Forbidden Feeling
by McKmaster25
Summary: What does Love at first sight really mean? Well, what about when a pair of Sapphire and Emerald eyes, one belonging to a human girl, and the other belonging to a speedy blue hedgehog, meet. What adventures are bound to unfold from this forbidden feeling?
1. Chapter 1: It Begins

**Chapter One: It Begins**

The full moon shone brightly along with the twinkling stars as they shone down on an extravagant looking house in the Suburbs of Station Square. Out of one of the second story windows in the front of the house, sat the silhouette of a young woman. This young woman was in her late teens, around the age of eighteen, and for an eighteen year old, she was gorgeous. She had medium length Auburn brown hair that was currently tied back in a loose ponytail. Her eyes were a mesmerizing shade of sapphire blue, framed with thick natural eyelashes. Her cheeks had an aristocratic structure to them that made it almost seem as if she was born to royalty, which in a way she almost was, for she was non other than Melanie Thorndyke, eldest child to the wealthy and successful Nelson and Lindsey Thorndyke.

She had a younger brother named Christopher, but everyone called him Chris. Chris was eight years younger than Melanie, making him about ten years old. Melanie loved her little brother to death, and it was because of him that she stayed at home. Melanie knew her parents and even her Grandfather were not happy with her staying at home. All three of them wanted Melanie to go off to a prestigious University and get a college education to be something successful. Melanie did plan on going to a University someday, but she had made a silent promise that she would stay by her brothers side until he was old enough to be on his own. Melanie sort of held a grudge against her parents. Because they were so busy with their careers, they did not have enough time to act like actual parents. Melanie could very well remember her childhood growing up in an empty house with only Ella the housekeeper for company. When Chris was born, Melanie was so overjoyed to have a sibling that she vowed when she first held him, to be the best big sister in the world and would always be there for her baby brother so that he would never feel the loneliness that she had to endure.

Back to the night at hand. Nighttime was always Melanie's favorite time of day because it was the quietest time where all you can hear are the crickets chirping, especially on clear nights like tonight, and enjoy the brilliance of the stars in the sky.

Although tonight seemed to be different from most nights. Melanie frowned as she heard the constant distant sound of choppers in the sky and sirens on the road. They weren't too loud, since the Thorndyke residence was far enough away from the city, but it was still a sound that was not usually heard at night and it made Melanie wonder, just what was going on tonight?

Shrugging and deciding not to think on it further. Melanie opened the book that was sitting on her lap and started to read. Melanie loved to read, especially fantasy adventure, tales dappled with romance. She smiled as she continued to read her favorite book, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.

Suddenly a knock sounded at her door. Confused, Melanie looked up to her door and called out, "Come in," The door opened immediately and her brother ran in. Chris was about average size for a ten year old, he wasn't short, yet he wasn't overly tall either. He had the same shade of hair as his sister, with it maybe being a tad lighter in color than hers, and his eyes were a light blue color instead of the intense sapphire that his sister had. He was currently wearing his favorite light blue pajamas while Melanie simply wore a dark gray tank top with gray sweatpants.

Chris ran over to his sister and grabbed her arm exclaiming quietly, so as not to wake the house keeper or the butler, "Mel come quick! I think something fell into our pool!" Melanie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "And how do you know that?" Chris just tugged on her arm again as he replied, "I heard what sounded like a splash, and when I looked out my window there were ripples on the surface of the water! Please can you come with me to check it out?" Melanie hesitated for a moment before nodding her head and letting her brother lead her by the arm.

Once they reached the pool's terrace, they noticed that something had indeed landed in the water and seemed to be struggling to reach the surface. Before Melanie could do or say anything, her brother had let go of her hand, and ignoring her whispered yell to stop, jumped into the water to help the poor creature. Sighing in exasperation, Melanie noticed the towel rack and walked over to grab some towels for her brother and their mystery guest.

She just finished grabbing the last towel she needed, when the sound of a splash and two fits of coughing reached her ears. She turned around and started to head over to her brother but paused for a moment when she noticed what her brother had saved. A…Blue spiky haired creature with red shoes?

She finally reached the two as her brother finished getting his breath back and he asked the creature, "That was close! Are you ok?" Now Melanie had to smile at that, because even though her brother probably thought the same thing she did, that the poor creature can't understand them, he was still worried for it. Shockingly though, the creature suddenly groaned and said, "Yeah, thanks a lot."

Melanie was standing in front of the two and when she heard the creature actually speak, she gasped and blurted out, "I didn't think you could talk!" She then dropped the towels and covered her mouth in embarrassment as the creature tilted its head to look up at her. Emerald green eyes suddenly met Sapphire blue and it seemed like the world froze for a moment. Melanie's cheeks slowly started to turn pink as she gazed into the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen! They were so intense and twinkled almost like emeralds, she felt she could lose herself looking into them. The creature seemed to think the same. He had never seen eyes with such a twinkling deep shade of blue. But the creature suddenly remembered what the girl just said and still looking directly into her eyes replied with a slight hint of indignation or pride, "I can do a lot of things."

Melanie, who still had her hands over her mouth, which were now serving to hide her blush, merely nodded in understanding as her little brother, completely oblivious to the intense moment that just happened between the other two exclaimed happily, "Wow, that's awesome! That you can talk, I mean." Then when the creature's gaze swung back to him, he indicated himself and Melanie, who had finally removed her hands from her mouth, and said, "My name's Christopher and this is my sister Melanie. Do you have a name?" The creature looked between the two siblings, his gaze lingering on Melanie a second longer before smirking and exclaiming proudly, "Yeah I have a name! My name is Sonic the Hedgehog."


	2. Chapter 2: Rescue Mission

**Chapter Two: Rescue Mission**

After Sonic introduced himself, Melanie handed both boys (she decided that since Sonic basically acted human, she would recognize him as such instead of constantly referring him in her mind as a creature) a towel to dry off. They then snuck back into the house and Chris took Sonic up to his room to sleep for the night while Melanie headed back to her room across the hall.

The next morning, Melanie woke up early and headed downstairs to help Ella make breakfast, deciding that Chris and Sonic would be fine together without her for a little while. When Ella finally shooed her out of the kitchen to go do something else, she decided to go see how the two were holding up. As she walked up the stairs, she suddenly heard the phone ringing and ran over to the nearest phone to answer it, "Hello Thorndyke residence, this is Melanie, how may I help you?" " _Oh my dear that was stupendous! What a wonderful way to answer the phone_ ," Melanie internally groaned, but outwardly she replied, "Mother! It's wonderful to hear from you. Chris and I miss you and Father terribly, how are you?"

As Melanie politely listened to her mother rant about the weather that was ruining her movie shoot, she arrived at Chris's door. She knocked their special knock to let him know that she was coming in and walked in to see him sitting alone on his balcony. With the phone to her ear, she raised her eyebrows to silently ask, where's Sonic? Chris understood immediately and pointed upwards, to indicate that Sonic was sitting on the roof. Nodding in understanding, Melanie heard her Mom finally finish her tirade about work." _Sorry for that darling, just had to get that all off my chest. It just means that I won't be back till late next week at the earliest._ " "It's all right mother, that just means that Ella and I will have time to prepare a lovely welcome back meal for you." Melanie smiled as she saw Chris's eyes widen at who she was talking to on the phone. So still smiling, she said into the phone, "Mother as lovely as it is talking with you, Chris has figured it out and now would like to talk with you as well. Love you mom." " _Oh I love you to dear, make sure to continue to keep a good eye on Chris and your Grandfather for me!_ "

With that Melanie handed Chris the phone and he happily grabbed it from her and walked inside to have his private moment with their mother. Melanie stayed on the balcony and sighed. "Why the long face?" Melanie jumped and whirled around in surprise, forgetting that she wasn't alone on the balcony. Looking up, she spotted Sonic sitting with his arms behind his head on the roof of Chris's room.

Now that it was daylight, she was able to see him in full detail. He had royal blue colored fur on his back that made up his spikes, his arms were a tan color and his stomach and muzzle were also tan. He wore white gloves and white socks with red colored sneakers. All in all, Melanie thought, he looked… kinda cute, but also cool at the same time. As Melanie was observing the male hedgehog, he was also observing her. All night, as he tried to sleep through the worry of where his friends are, he couldn't shake the image of her sapphire eyes. Now that it was light out, and he was able to see her better… his heart suddenly forgot how to work. He realized that besides her mesmerizing eyes, she was really pretty. She had her auburn hair tied up in a loose bun behind her head, she wore a lavender quarter-sleeved colored shirt with blue jean capris and lavender colored flip flops on.

They're staring contest was cut off as Chris came back out on the balcony still on the phone. He seemed nervous about something, "Hey Mom, there's something I, well there's something I did which I'm not supposed to," Melanie frowned at that statement and Sonic, who had closed his eyes again when Chris came out, opened one eye to stare at the boy as he continued talking, "Yeah, I'm totally fine. But remember how you said how I'm not allowed to swim at night, and how you wanted me to stay away from the adult pool?" Melanie cringed as she heard their mother's frantic voice on the other end of the phone, then smiled weakly as Mr. Tanaka, their house butler and Melanie's martial arts instructor, walked in and set Chris's breakfast on the table for him. He gave her a small smile in return, bowed and walked out as Chris continued to explain last nights shenanigans to their frantic mother.

"Uh, well, not exactly mom. You see there was this cat, in the pool and I got it out," At the word cat Melanie glanced up at Sonic and had to cover her mouth to suppress her giggles because Sonic did NOT look happy at being called a cat. Chris listened as their mother lightly scolded him for his antics with the pool, then blushed in embarrassment as she asked him to give her a kiss over the phone.

Once he turned the phone off, Melanie put her hands on her hips and asked, "Did you really have to tell her about last night?" Chris just shrugged his shoulders sheepishly in reply. Suddenly Sonic jumped down from his spot on the roof and landed in a sitting position on the railing of the balcony. Pointing at himself, he said to Chris, "Take a good look, I'm a hedgehog, not a cat!" Melanie couldn't help giggling at that funny statement and as Sonic turned to look at her with his arms crossed and an unamused frown upon his face, she smiled teasingly and replied, "Aw, but you would make such a cute cat." Sonic suddenly felt his cheeks heat up at Melanie's teasing smile, he suddenly felt flustered and confused on why Melanie's teasing was getting such a reaction out of him. He was super grateful when Chris started talking again.

"Uh, I know your not a cat, please don't be mad Sonic. You see, my mom wouldn't understand." Sonic blinked once in confusion and asked, "Why wouldn't she?" Melanie crossed her arms and answered, "Well first off Sonic, our mother would never believe Chris if he said that he risked his life jumping into the pool to save a hedgehog." Sonic still didn't get it, so Melanie elaborated by saying, "In our world, hedgehogs are tiny little creatures the size of a human hand compared to how big you are." Sonic still looked at both siblings with a disbelieving look and muttered, "Really?" with a sarcastic undertone.

Melanie frowned as Chris continued by stating, "What else could I say to her? I couldn't tell her that I saved a blue, talking, hedgehog!" Now Melanie turned her crossed arms and frown to Chris as she replied sternly, "You could have just not said anything Chris! Now, thanks to you, I'm going to be in major trouble with Dad." Chris just simply ignored his grumpy sister and curiously asked Sonic, "That reminds me, where and when did you learn how to talk Sonic?"

Melanie scowled at her brother's lack of understanding the trouble he had just landed her in, but then also turned in curiosity to hear Sonic's answer. Sonic, for his part, was rubbing his head thoughtfully as he replied, "Good question, unfortunately I don't have a very good answer cause I don't remember." Melanie smiled and opened her mouth to ask her own question, when suddenly the phone in Chris's hand started ringing.

Sonic watched, curiosity piqued, as Melanie visibly stiffened and her lips formed a thin frown as Chris answered and immediately said, "Oh hey dad, how are you?" You could obviously tell that their dad was overly worried as his voice slightly carried over the phone. Melanie's face formed a small smile of amusement as Sonic visibly scowled when the words "stray cats" could be heard over the phone.

While Chris talked to their dad, Melanie walked over to Sonic's side and asked him, "So Sonic, how long have you been in our world?" Sonic turned to her and replied, "Last night was my first night here. It's weird though, the sky, moon and stars all look the same, but everything else is so vastly different from where I come from." "Well, how did you get here then?" Melanie asked as she leaned on the railing next to the blue hedgehog. Sonic rubbed his chin in thought as he replied, "I think something malfunctioned when I was attacking Eggman, causing an abnormal Chaos control, which somehow sent me here." Melanie blinked a few times at his statement, then said, "Ok, I'm going to pretend that that actually made sense to me." Sonic smiled at her reaction and replied, "It does sound kind of odd doesn't it? How about I explain the whole story of where I come from later ok?" Melanie returned his smile and with a thumbs up, replied, "It's a deal!"

Suddenly Chris called out, "Mel, dad wants to talk to you!" Grimacing, Melanie pushed herself off the balcony railing and said with a huff of resignation, "Wish me luck." Sonic simply gave her a thumbs up in return to which she smiled at, then took the phone from her little brother and walked back into the house. "Hi dad," She started, nervous on how he would respond.

" _Melanie, why was Chris in the pool last night in the first place? Don't you think you should have stopped him? After all you are his older sister and therefore should be more responsible._ " Her father questioned sternly, causing Melanie to wince at the slight hint of disappointment she could slightly detect in his voice. Continuing to walk through the house without a destination in mind, Melanie replied calmly, "I tried to stop him dad. He came running into my room exclaiming that he heard something fall into the pool and I tried to dissuade him but he begged me to go check it out with him, so I went with him and when he saw the poor creature struggling to reach the surface, he acted before I could stop him." There was a slight pause, and Melanie wondered what her father could possibly be thinking about. Suddenly he spoke up again, " _Well, he is a little impulsive isn't he. Just, next time any cats fall into the pool, make sure you both let Mr. Tanaka know all right?_ " Melanie smiled and replied, "Will do dad. How is everything at work?"

" _Busy as usual. Look, honey, I know you would like to talk, but I have an important meeting to run to. I'll see you and Chris soon ok_?" Melanie sighed, she shouldn't have expected anything else, her father was always busy just as much, if not more, than their mother, " _I'm sorry Melanie. I know you don't like it. We'll all be together soon, don't you worry about it all right?_ " Her father gently said into the phone, knowing how much his daughter disliked how little time he and her mother spent with her and Chris. Melanie smiled weakly and replied, "All right Dad. I love you." " _Love you too sweetheart_."

Melanie clicked the phone off and noticed that in her wandering around, she had ended up outside of the garage to her Grandfather's workshop. And just as she went to reach for the door, it opened to reveal the old man himself. Chuck Thorndyke was a short man with dark gray, slightly spiky hair. He had lavender eyes that shone with intelligence and love for his grandkids. Melanie's face lit up with a wide smile at seeing him. All her life, her Grandfather had been there for her, acting like the father figure she desperately needed since his son seemed to busy to act as such.

When he noticed his Granddaughter, Chuck smiled and said, "Well, good morning Melanie!" Returning the smile, Melanie replied, "Good morning! How are you doing this morning?" If anything her Grandpa suddenly grinned wider and exclaimed, "I am doing fantastic! I just discovered something on the news this morning that will have your brother amazed." With that he started heading into the house to try and locate Chris.

Melanie suddenly panicked, what if Grandpa discovered Sonic? That probably would not be good. So running after her Grandpa she tried to get him into a conversation to distract him from finding Chris. Of course the best way to distract him was with arguing with him.

Meanwhile, Chris had accidentally insulted Sonic by thinking since he is a hedgehog, that he ate things like cat food and crickets. Sonic nearly ran away in disgust until Chris persuaded him to stay by getting him some hamburgers to eat. The two of them were now sitting in the living room watching the news as Sonic ate through at least three big hamburgers. Suddenly raised voices could be heard coming from the closed door to the living room and it suddenly banged open to reveal a heated argument between Melanie and an old man. They were both so engrossed into their discussion that at first they didn't even notice the two sitting on the couch, who were now watching the argument, Chris with a look of resignation, and Sonic with a look of confusion.

"I've told you before Melanie, you won't get anywhere in life if you just stay here at home and do nothing! You need to finish your education by going off to college!" Melanie huffed in annoyance and crossed her arms exclaiming back just as heatedly, "And I am telling you, for the millionth time, that if I leave, I will never forgive myself for leaving Chris! He needs me Grandpa and I need him!" Chris blushed in embarrassment as he realized that they were arguing about him again. He knew that his sister wanted to go off and study to become a doctor, but didn't want to leave him to the lonely fate that she had to endure before he was born. It made him love Melanie to pieces, but feel extremely guilty at the same time.

Suddenly Chuck noticed his Grandson and exclaimed excitedly, completely forgetting the argument he was just having with his older grandchild, "There you are Chris, guess what! A big blue hedgehog came out of nowhere and outran the S-team yesterday!" Melanie's eyes widened in surprise and she glanced at Sonic, who winked at her with a smirk.

Suddenly Chuck noticed that Chris wasn't sitting alone on the couch and both Chris and Melanie tensed as their Grandfather glanced from the TV to Sonic and back. Suddenly he and Sonic got in each others faces and Chris, panicking, threw a pillow over Sonic's head to try and hide him from view. Melanie giggled in amusement at the situation as she heard Sonic mumble yelling that he can't breathe and Grandpa looking suspiciously between her and Chris, who had a way to innocent smile on his face. Finally Sonic forced the pillow off of himself and crossed his arms in annoyance. Unfortunately, it gave Chuck a chance to analyze him better and he suddenly realized that he was the same hedgehog from yesterday! Lunging with inhuman speed, he suddenly grabbed Sonic and shouted, "It's him!" "Easy Grandpa!" Melanie and Chris shouted at the same time, worried for Sonic in their Grandfather's clutches.

Holding up a screwdriver, Chuck started poking and prodding poor Sonic with it, causing Chris to exclaim, "Grandpa, what are you doing?!" Melanie simply giggled in amusement from her spot near the doorway as her Grandpa explained, "I have to see how this thing is put together!" Having enough, Sonic leaped out of their Grandfather's clutches and, to the surprise of Melanie, he jumped behind her legs and used her as a wall of safety between himself and what appeared to him to be a crazy old man. Growling in annoyance, their Grandfather commanded, "Stand still!" Thankfully Chris came to Sonic's rescue by explaining, "Grandpa wait, he's not a machine," Then with Melanie pitching in, they said in unison, "He's Sonic the Hedgehog!"

An awed silence followed the siblings statement, soon broken by the sudden sound of crying coming from the TV. Sonic's ears perked up in recognition of the sound and whipped his face to the screen to see a little female bunny and a little blue creature clinging to each other and whimpering in fright.

Melanie frowned in concern as Sonic exclaimed, "Its Cream and Cheese!" "Its who?" Chris questioned but Sonic wasn't paying him any attention as he stated mostly to himself, "I'm not the only one who got transported into this weird world after all! I'll save those two!" And with that he zoomed out of the room. Chris and Melanie shared a brief look of exasperation before chasing after him, with Melanie hollering after his speeding form, "Do you even know where they are?!" Suddenly Sonic appeared before them once more and sheepishly shrugged his shoulders, indicating that no, he did not. Chris just stared at him, while Melanie sighed and said, "Come on," and led the two boys down to their Grandfather's garage.

When they arrived, Chuck was already on the phone talking quickly to someone. As they came to a stop next to him, he finished his conversation by saying, "I thought they probably would do something along those lines! Well, thanks very much for giving me the scoop and I'll talk to you soon." As he finished the conversation and hung up the phone, Melanie noticed that Sonic was looking around the garage with a look of wonder and, if she looked close enough, a hint of sadness. Before she could question him on what was wrong, her Grandfather started talking to the three of them.

"Well, it seems Sonic's friends have been captured by the police and moved to Area 99," Melanie gasped with a hand over her mouth as Chris exclaimed, "Area 99! That's that top secret Military base!" Sonic tilted his head in confusion and if Melanie wasn't so worried for the little female bunny, she would have 'awwed' at how cute he looked. With his head tilted, Sonic asked Chris, "What?" And Chris went on to explain that Area 99 was where the National Defense Force kept all of their top secret weapons and such. "It is also where anything the Government considers 'alien' or 'not normal' is sent and never seen from again, oh poor Cream! She must be terrified right now!" Melanie exclaimed, squeezing her hands together with worry. Sonic frowned and stated, "That sounds like Eggman's kind of place."

"Your friends have been taken there by the army and placed under 24-hour guard. The authorities believe they could be aliens, or perhaps members of a mutant species developed by an enemy power designed to attack our population! I wonder if they might not be right Sonic, Eh?" Grandpa explained, finishing up with a smirk sent in Sonic's direction.

Sonic shrugged and replied indifferently, "Think what you want, I'm gone, now that I know where my friends are, I'm outta here." Melanie bit her lip in worry as she watched Sonic start to walk out of the garage, she called out to him, "But if you show up at Area 99 they may lock you up as well!" Sonic stopped walking at the sound of worry in Melanie's voice, and turning around he gave her a confident smile and thumbs up, "They can't lock me up!" But when he turned back to continue walking, the garage door suddenly closed right in Sonic's face! Growling in annoyance, Sonic turned to look at the group of humans and stated angrily, "Open that door!" Melanie quietly shook her head to indicate that she didn't do it, while Chris vocalized it by stating, "Don't look at me! I didn't do it!" Grandpa then stated happily, "Ha! It was me!" Everyone looked at him in confusion as he continued by saying,

"You're going to need some help Sonic, I'll go with you!" Chris and Melanie looked at their Grandpa in shock as Chris exclaimed, "Grandpa are you serious?" Melanie could only watch in wonder as her Grandpa looked at Chris and explained, "Of course I'm serious, and you're coming along to. You told me to don't want to lead a boring life like your father, so here's your chance for some excitement!" Melanie then stepped forward and stated with determination, "If Chris is going, then I am going too. Sonic can use all the help he can get!" Grandpa simply nodded his head proudly at Melanie and Chris looked between the two of them before stating,

"Well, if your up for it then I'm up for it, just don't tell dad." Melanie rolled her eyes and ruffled her brother's hair, fondly saying, "That's something I should be telling you, Mr. 'I saved a cat from the adult pool'" Chris blushed in embarrassment and ducked out from under Melanie's hand to run over and help Grandpa collect some things to use for the expedition.

Melanie continued to smile as she turned to look at Sonic, who was watching the three family members with a look of complete mystification. She chuckled at his expression and drew his attention to her as she stated, "You'll get used to it. We are what you could call, a unique family." Sonic nodded in agreement. Then he looked up at Melanie's sapphire eyes, and Melanie was surprised to see slight concern and worry in the depths of Sonic's emerald eyes as he asked, "Are you sure you want to come Mel? It's going to be dangerous." Melanie gave Sonic a fond smile and replied, "Yes I'm sure. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I have to come to make sure you three come back safely." Sonic smiled at Melanie's answer, and opened his mouth to say something more, but was interrupted by Grandpa Chuck calling out, "Come on! Let's get going!" The four jumped into the car and they were off!

They drove for what felt like ages, sitting in the back seat beside Sonic, Melanie could tell that Sonic was getting really impatient and sulky. He finally stated, "It's going to take forever to get there. I'd rather just go by myself." Suddenly Sonic felt a hand on his arm, and looked up in surprise to see Melanie giving him an understanding smile. He suddenly felt his cheeks go hot, and looked the other way before she noticed as he realized that Melanie's hand felt really soft and somehow extremely comforting, making Sonic uncomfortable because he could not describe this strange feeling her touch and pretty sapphire eyes kept giving him.

He was thankfully brought back to the matter at hand, when Chuck replied to his comment, "Chill out." And Chris asked, "Is it time?" When Chuck nodded, Chris turned and handed Sonic a strange headset device, "Put it on." Chris told a confused looking Sonic who asked, "What's this?" Melanie answered his question, "It's an infrared scope." Then her Grandpa went into more detail by explaining, "I'm certain that Area 99 is full of infrared motion detectors that set off security alarms. If you wear that, you may be able to avoid them."

Melanie watched as Sonic smiled in satisfaction and put the device on. Then unbuckling, he jumped out of the car and started running the exact same speed as the car! Glancing at his human friends still in the vehicle, he called, "See ya later guys!" And ZOOM! He was gone. Melanie and Chris watched in amazement at Sonic's speed, while their Grandpa blinked a couple of times and stated, "He certainly is a speedy little critter isn't he?" And with that they sped up to follow him.

As Chris and Chuck relayed instructions to Sonic, Melanie simply sat in the backseat and held her right hand against her chest. Touching Sonic's arm had been the first skin to skin contact the two had done with each other since meeting, and for some strange reason, her hand still felt all tingling. With him being a Hedgehog, she had expected his fur to be rough and hard, but to her shock, his arm had felt like human flesh! Her heart started to pound in her chest as her rebellious brain started to wonder, what do his blue spikes feel like then?

Her extremely weird thoughts were brought back to the present, as the alarms from Area 99 started blaring. Leaning forwards, Melanie grabbed the headset from Chris, who let out a "Hey!" Ignoring her brother, she called into the mic, "Sonic, what's going on? Are you and your friends all right?" The sound of lasers and running footsteps could be heard over the earpiece, then she heard Sonic reply curtly, "Not exactly." Not wanting to distract him further, Melanie listened with bated breath as Sonic kept telling someone, who she guessed was Cream to run, and how the lasers seemed to be out of control.

She finally let out a breath of relief, as she heard Sonic tell his friend, "See Cream, I told you we'd make it and we did! You didn't doubt me did ya?" At that she took the headset off and gave it back to her Grandpa. Chuck gave his granddaughter a knowing smirk, making her blush and mumble, "Knock it off Grandpa."

Suddenly a blue propeller plane flew overhead that was being piloted by what appeared to be an orange fox, with Sonic and a small bunny on the wing of the plane. Chris stood up in excitement as he watched the plane, while Melanie simply leaned back in her seat with a closed eyed smile, as their Grandpa stated, "Well kids, mission accomplished, let's head for home!"

Once they were back at the Thorndyke residence, they found the plane parked outside of Grandpa's workshop. Melanie rolled her eyes and muttered to Chris, "Way to be inconspicuous," Chris just shushed his sister as they got out of the car and made their way over to Sonic and his friends.

Chris smiled and began introductions by saying, "Hi! My name's Christopher, Sonic landed in our swimming pool last night and I dove in and saved him." Then waving her hand hello in greeting, Melanie continued saying, "And I'm Chris's older sister Melanie. Pleased to meet you!" The orange fox then smiled and said, "My name's Tails, and I'm Sonic's very best buddy, right Sonic?" "Correct," Sonic replied. The little bunny then spoke up and said, "My name is Cream and this is my very special Chao friend Cheese," Then Cream and Cheese bowed and said with gratitude, "thank you for helping us," Melanie smiled and crouching down to be at Cream's height, she replied, "Your very welcome Cream."

"It's very nice to meet all of you. I have a feeling we are all going to become really good friends!" Chris stated happily. "Oh and this is our Grandfather," Chris finished up introductions by motioning to their Grandpa who was enthusiastically studying one of the little machines that Tails had created to help Sonic and Cream escape.

As the group listened to Chuck talk in fascination about the tiny mechanical object, Melanie chanced a glance at Sonic to see him just standing in a relaxed poise with his arms behind his head and eyes closed in contentment now that he knew that he wasn't totally alone in this new world to him. Melanie found herself smiling in amusement as she watched her brother try to scold the reckless hero and she opened her mouth to make a comment to the two of them, when her Grandpa suddenly asked a question that caught her immediate interest.

"And where exactly is that world Tails?" Tails rubbed his head and replied, "Beats me, but I think we got here through a warp in time and space." Chuck sat back with a frown on his face and remarked, "hmm interesting, not very helpful, but interesting," Tails then said, "I just thought of something," Then turning to look at Sonic, he continued, "If you and me and Cream and Cheese are here, maybe the others got here too!" Sonic thoughtfully rubbed his chin and replied, "You might be right about that Tails, and if you are that means maybe…" Melanie watched with concern mounting as the three stiffened in shock and stated as one, "Eggman's here too!"


	3. Chapter 3: Introducing Eggman

**Chapter Three: Introducing Eggman**

Three days went by, since the rescue mission to save Cream and Cheese. Sonic continued to sleep on the roof of Chris's room, Tails roomed with Chuck in the extra bed above the garage, and Melanie had Cream and Cheese sleep with her in her room.

The third day dawned a bright, warm and beautiful Saturday morning. Melanie hummed happily to herself as she packed her bag for the day and tied her hair up in its usual low hanging ponytail. As she finished tying her hair up, she looked at herself in her floor length mirror, where she could see herself wearing a blue and white striped tank top with denim jean shorts on and white flip flops and nodded in satisfaction. Cream and Cheese watched her get ready as they sat on Melanie's bed. Finally, curiosity getting the better of her, Cream asked, "Where are you going today Melanie?" Melanie turned to smile at the little female bunny and replied, "I'm meeting up with a group of my friends today to go to the beach." Cream clapped her hands in excitement and replied, "Oh that sounds amazing! Can Cheese and I come?"

Melanie sighed and replied, "I'm sorry Cream, but you both need to stay here with Sonic and the others too be safe for the time being ok?" Melanie felt bad as she watched Cream's ears droop a little bit in disappointment as she replied, "Ok." So walking over and sitting on the bed beside Cream, Melanie pulled her into a side hug and said, "How about this, next time, I'll take you and Cheese to the beach and it will be just the three of us to have fun for a day, sound good?" Cream and Cheese immediately brightened and both gave big smiles and a loud "Yes!" to Melanie's question.

Melanie laughed in amusement and headed out the door to go outside. Before heading to her car though, she paused outside the house and glanced up at the roof. With it being early in the morning, Sonic hadn't yet left for his daily run yet. She blinked in surprise as she spotted him watching her. When he realized she was watching him, he jumped down and walked over to her, giving her a warm smile. Melanie returned the smile and said, "Good morning Sonic!" "Morning Mel! Where are you off to today?" Grinning at the nickname that Sonic seemed to like calling her, Melanie replied, "Some friends of mine have asked me to join them at the beach for a volleyball tournament." "Sounds fun, good luck!" Sonic turned to start his speedy run, but before he could leave, Melanie asked him, "What are your plans for today Sonic?"

Sonic turned and gave her a grin with a thumbs up and replied, "Exploring of course!" And with that he was off! Melanie shook her head in amusement, then got in her car and headed off to meet her friends.

Once Melanie arrived at the beach, she headed over to a group of five others, three guys and two girls. One of the guys had long brown hair that was tied back in a low ponytail and was wearing a red t-shirt with white shorts with red flip flops, he had one arm around the waist of one of the girls who had semi-curly light brown hair. Her hair was cut short and had a pink headband in it while she wore a crop top pink shirt and shorts with white flip flops.

They were the first two of the group to notice Melanie's approach. When the girl saw her, she left the boy's side and raced towards her with an excited squeal of, "Melanie!" Melanie laughed in amusement and joy as she watched all of her other friend's turn at the sound of the girl's squeal, and opened her arms to receive the ginormous hug heading her way. "Its good to see you as well Kim." When Kim finally released her to make room for the others to hug and say their hellos, Melanie raised a teasing eyebrow and asked, "Since when did you and Tommy become a couple?"

The boy in the red t-shirt, Tommy, and Kim, immediately broke into huge blushes, much to the amusement of their gathered friends. Finally, after chatting and catching up on what has been going on with each of them since graduation, one of the other boys in the group, a tall African-American with buzz cut black hair, and wearing a green tank top with blue swim trunks, twirled a volleyball between his hands and asked, "So, shall we begin?"

Trini, who was the other girl in the group, had an asian complexion with long black hair that hung loose down her back, she also wore a crop top and skirt, but hers was yellow instead of pink. When she heard the question, she rolled her eyes and asked, "Is sports all you ever think about Matt?" The girls smirked as all three boys pouted at that and the only one to not speak yet, a boy with tanned skin, sandy blonde hair, and wearing a simple gray t-shirt with black swim trunks, replied, "Why shouldn't he? Sports are _very_ important you know!" As one, the three girls replied, "Sure they are." Tommy smirked, and turning to his guy friends he said, "You know, I think the girls are challenging us." Melanie grinned and replied, "What gave it away?" And with that the game began!

The teams ended up being boys versus girls, and the game stayed pretty even with both sides having a ton of fun laughing and throwing teasing taunts at each other.

About two hours went by, and the group of friends were just starting their second game, when Daniel, the blonde boy, accidentally hit the ball too hard and sent it soaring over everyone's heads to land in the water. Kim, being closest to the ball, laughed and said, "That's ok, I've got it!" As she walked into the water to retrieve the ball, Melanie suddenly noticed something dark beneath the surface of the water. It seemed to be heading straight for the volleyball! Right as Kim reached the ball, Melanie called out worriedly, "Kim, look out!"

Kim suddenly yelled in surprise as something big broke the surface of the water, causing Kim to fall on her butt. As the water settled, everyone on the beach watched in frightened silence, as a strange robot now stood in the shallows of the water. The silence was broken as the now long forgotten volleyball landed on top of Kim's head, making her break out of her shocked trance and start screaming in fright.

As the robot started to move and attack with what appeared to be missiles on it's wrists, Melanie couldn't help but stand and watch with a frown of displeasure forming on her face. She had no doubt in her mind that this robot must work for the bad guy that Sonic and his friends were telling her and Chris about. Tommy, noticing that Melanie hadn't moved yet, ran over to her and said in a serious voice, "This one is way out of our league Mel, come on it's too dangerous!" Melanie simply shook her head and replied in the same serious tone, "I'll think of something, you go on and take care of Kim and the others." Tommy gave his best friend one last uncertain look, before nodding and saying, "Be careful Mel." Then he ran off to find his girlfriend.

Suddenly overhead, Melanie heard a chuckle and a voice exclaim, "There's nothing more fun than making waves on the beach!" Glancing up, Melanie saw the ugliest man she had ever seen before, floating in what appeared to be an advanced hovercraft. Suddenly the man started talking again, "Well, now that we've established a beachhead here, let's set our sights on the city." Melanie growled in anger at that. No way was she letting some psycho man hurt her city!

So out of slight stupidity, and gut instinct, she hollered up at the man, "Hey you! You can't just come barging in and destroy our home! Leave us alone and go back to wherever you came from!" She stood her ground defiantly and glared daggers, as the man turned his hovercraft slowly to look at her. He hesitated slightly at the deadly glare, made all the more prominent by her brightly narrowed, sapphire eyes. But then he shook his head and tilted it back to let out a belly laugh, "Oh Ho Ho Ha! Did you seriously think that the words of a cute, little girl, are going to stop the great and powerful Dr. Eggman?" Melanie crossed her arms, smirked and stated, "Nope. I know for certain that someone else will. I'm merely delaying you for your inevitable defeat."

She watched with a satisfied smirk as Eggman's mustache twitched in annoyance. But her smirk faltered as Eggman then stated, "Grrrr, Missile Wrist slight change of plans. Because this goody two shoes seems to want to be in our way, she is going to be our hostage."

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the Thorndyke Residence, everyone else was having a peaceful morning. Tails was cleaning his plane, the Tornado, while Chuck admired it and asked Tails questions about it's mechanics and such. Cream and Cheese were enjoying the sun at a patio table and eating small donuts that Melanie had given them for breakfast that morning. Suddenly Chris came running up to all of them calling out, "Hey Tails!" Tails turned to Chris and asked, "What's wrong?" "Where's Sonic and Melanie?" Cream answered by saying, "Melanie went to go play beach volleyball with some friends, and Sonic left this morning, he was going somewhere to explore."

"If the Police spot Sonic, they'll try and catch him." Chris replied. He didn't bother worrying about Melanie, he knew his sister could take care of herself. "Catch Sonic? I don't think so," Tails said, bringing Chris's thoughts back to his main worry. "I just hope he's careful." Tails tilted his head in thought and replied, "Hmm, that's not his style, Sonic likes danger." And with that Chris panicked and exclaimed, "We have to bring him back! Right away!"

* * *

Going back to Melanie, she was currently diving away from hiding behind a car that the robot's missile was currently smashing. As soon as Eggman had said the word "hostage," Melanie had started running for her life. All of her Martial Arts training helped her to be quick and agile to avoid the constant barrage of missile arms sent out to grab her. At one point Eggman even called out in frustration, "Stop acting like a graceful cat already and hold still!"

Melanie ignored him, and after ducking into an alley way for a moment to catch her breath, she spotted a sewage lid that could help her hide under ground and get to safety. So taking the opportunity before the Robot could find her, she quickly pulled open the lid, climbed onto the ladder, then carefully closed the lid. And not a second to soon, for the thudding of the Robots feet could be felt coming closer. Unfortunately, the vibrations were so strong that Melanie lost her grip on the ladder and started falling into the darkness, careful not to scream, for fear of alerting Eggman to her location.

Her fall was suddenly broken by something soft and someone going, "Ouch!" Then a high pitched female voice called out worriedly, "Knuckles! Are you ok?" Melanie immediately leapt to her feet and switched on her utility flashlight, to find that her fall had been broken by what looked like a red colored creature the same size as Sonic. Running up to him to see if he was all right, was a female pink hedgehog in a dark pink and white dress and red sneakers.

As the red male creature angrily got back to his feet, Melanie bowed in deep apology and said, "I am so sorry! I was just trying to escape some crazy robot that wanted to kidnap me and lost my grip on the ladder in my hurry and… well… here I am." She finished her rambling apology with looking up to find both creatures looking at her with raised eye brows. A few more minutes of awkward silence stretched between the three of them, before Melanie finally put her hand out in greeting and said, "My name is Melanie, I'm guessing you both come from Sonic's world as well right?"

"You know Sonic?" The pink hedgehog said clapping her hands together in sudden excitement. Melanie internally winced at the high vocals of the female hedgehog's voice, that, Melanie thought, was going to take some getting used to.

Nodding her head, Melanie replied saying, "Yes, I know him. My brother saved him from drowning and so he is staying at my family's house for the time being." The Pink Hedgehog's eyes seemed to glimmer with something that made Melanie a little bit uneasy, while the Red creature crossed his arms, huffed and said, "Just great, the reckless show off got sent here too." The Pink one ignored him as she stepped forward and shook Melanie's outstretched hand, "My name is Amy, Amy Rose. And the grouchy red Echidna over there is Knuckles." Smiling, Melanie shook Amy's hand, "Nice to meet you both!" In the dim light of the flashlight, it was hard to make out what Melanie actually looked like, aside from the fact that she was human and wearing shorts and a tank top. But as the two girls shook hands, it caused the light of the flashlight to flash upwards for a brief second and it illuminated Melanie's bright smile and a flash of her sapphire eyes, making Knuckles suddenly feel very flustered for some odd reason.

Muttering out a, "Whatever," Knuckles turned around and continued walking the direction that he and Amy were walking before Melanie landed on him. Both girls watched the male walk away, then glancing at each other, they shrugged and followed after him.

For a while, it was just silence and the sound of their footsteps echoing through the sewers as they traveled. Then suddenly Amy spoke up, "So, what do you think are our chances of getting back home Knuckles?" Melanie watched as Knuckles glanced at Amy and replied, "We'll get back, for sure."

"How can we?" Amy asked, making Melanie wonder if the female hedgehog was just trying to bait the echidna into a conversation for some reason. Surprisingly it seemed to be working, because Knuckles replied, "I don't know, but we will, somehow we will. No matter what it takes, I have to get back, it's my mission to guard the Master Emerald. Nothing is going to stop me from doing my job, you can count on it." Melanie watched Knuckles's back in wide-eyed fascination. This 'Master Emerald' seemed really important and Knuckles guarded it? Melanie was about to speak up and ask what the Master Emerald was, but Knuckles wasn't done talking,

"Until I do find a way back, I'm not going to rest or get side-tracked…" That idea would have worked too… If the sudden shaking of the ground didn't happen, causing the three travelers to pause and run over to a ladder that led up to the surface. Melanie tensed, recognizing the thudding and shaking sound, just as Knuckles asked, "What is that?" With a grim look on her face, Melanie looked up the ladder and said, "In my experience, nothing good." Ignoring the confused looks sent her way, Melanie started to climb the ladder, with Knuckles then Amy following right behind her.

Once they reached the man hole lid, Melanie quietly pushed it up and to the side, then looked around quickly before climbing out to let the other two out. The three stood and watched the same robot, that had been chasing Melanie earlier, smashing it's way onto the roof of a nearby building, as a bunch of police cars pulled up in front of the building. Suddenly a video feed appeared in the sky and Dr. Eggman's ugly face appeared not a second after.

"Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dr. Eggman and I have some exciting news for you! Exciting for me that is, and catastrophic for you. I have decided to take over your world and make it a part of the new Eggman Empire. Resistance is futile, you will submit under my rule or be swept away like dust bunnies, Ho ho ho ho!" Melanie cringed at the deranged man's laughter. Things were not going well, where in the world was Sonic?

Suddenly, the chief of the New York City Police Department, called out through a megaphone, "Turn yourself in now bud, or we'll hull you in!"

"You must be joking!" Eggman scoffed back at him, "Were not playing around here buddy. Pull over and let's see your license and registration." The Chief replied in the most serious and straight faced manner, that both Amy and Melanie had to clamp their hands over their mouths to prevent people hearing their giggles at the completely confused look Eggman briefly gave the Police officer.

But their giggles immediately ceased, as Eggman then said menacingly, "I am the one giving the orders here!" The chief growled back and said, "Oh yeah? What makes you think so?" Eggman grinned and said, "This makes me think so!" and with that, he snapped his fingers and one of the robots wrists immediately shot down towards the Police officers! Melanie gasped and without thinking, ran towards the dust cloud to make sure the officers were ok, ignoring Knuckles and Amy's calls for her to come back.

As the dust started to settle, Eggman asked again, "Now will you surrender your city?" As Melanie went one by one to each Police officer to make sure they were, at least alive, she heard the Chief wheeze out, "Uh, sorry Doc, that's not my call. We need to run it by the Mayor."

She started running towards where she heard the Chief, ignoring Eggman's menacing, "Then go! And bring him to me…"

Reaching the Police Chief, Melanie saw that he was alive, but the worst beat up out of all the other officers. Kneeling down next to him, she asked worriedly, "Chief Jacobs! Are you all right?" The Chief turned his head and blinked in surprise when he saw Melanie Thorndyke. "Miss Thorndyke! *cough* What *cough* are you doing here?" Melanie smiled and replied, "I saw what happened and had to come make sure all of you are all right. Now can you stand?" Chief Jacobs nodded, before he could move though, something behind Melanie caught his attention, and before he could shout a warning to Melanie, she suddenly felt something metallic wrap tightly around her waist, trapping her arms to her sides!

She screamed in surprise as she was raised into the air, but quickly turned her surprise into anger as she was turned to face a chuckling Eggman, "Ha! Here's my little Escape kitty! Thought you could get away from me did you?" Melanie opted for silence, and just glared at Eggman, if looks could kill, he would be dead at least three times over. The Police Chief found the strength to stand and wobbled towards the kidnapped girl dangling from Eggman's hovercraft, worriedly he called out, "Miss Thorndyke! Let her go you villain! She has nothing to do with this!" Eggman waved a finger at the Chief and replied, "Ah, that's where your wrong officer! This lovely little lady is my hostage. Now, if you want her back in one piece, bring me that Mayor of yours!"

With that, Eggman started to fly away, with Melanie dangling from the bottom of his hovercraft in a metal clamp that was tight enough that she could not move her arms at all. Suddenly, as Eggman started to head towards the building that his robot was stationed on, Melanie accidentally looked down, and immediately wished that she had not. She was terrified of heights and dangling 300 feet in the air did nothing to ease that fear, if anything, it increased it. But shutting her eyes with determination, she firmly decided that she was not going to give her kidnapper the satisfaction that he had successfully terrified her.

Finally they came to a floating stop over the building, and Melanie let out a tiny breath of relief, glad that there was now at least a roof of a building blocking her view of how high up they were. Her thoughts were brought back to the matter at hand, when she suddenly heard Dr. Eggman call out, "Who are you?"

Then a voice called back through a megaphone, "I am the Mayor of this city, and I won't be blackmailed into negotiating with the likes of you!" Eggman raised an eyebrow with a mischievous smirk and replied, "Really?" Suddenly Melanie gasped as she was forcefully swung around, and now she once again dangled over the edge of the building, with one of the robot's wrists pointing right at the cord that connected her to the strange hovercraft! She could almost feel the triumph dripping from Eggman as he asked the Mayor, "Would you be willing to negotiate for the life of one of your precious citizens?"

She could faintly hear all the people watching from the street gasp, shocked that the villain would actually go that far. Forcing herself to be brave, she shouted as loud as she could to make herself heard, "MR. MAYOR, DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP THE CITY JUST BECAUSE OF ME, YOU HEAR ME!" Covering his ears in annoyance at her loud scream, Eggman growled, "Quiet you silly girl!" Suddenly the Mayor's voice was heard over the megaphone again, "Release her at once you villain! Or there will be no negotiations!" Smiling at the slight sound of panic that could be heard coming from the Mayor, Eggman called out, "I believe I told your Police Chief that I am the one giving the orders here!" With a snap of his fingers, the missile that wasn't aiming at Melanie's lifeline, shot towards the area where the Mayor and Police officers were standing.

As the dust cloud settled once again, Eggman called out with a vicious grin, "Mayor? Now are you ready to negotiate with me?" The sound of coughing could be heard, then the Mayor's voice spoke up again stating, "Uh technically sir, our charter doesn't allow me to surrender the city." Melanie rolled her eyes at the stupid response, while Eggman's mustache and eyebrows drooped in annoyance.

Turning to his robot, he started to say, "Missile Wrist, destroy this place before I…" But was cut off at the sound of a young voice shouting out, "EGGMAN!" Both Melanie and Eggman turned their heads, Eggman with shock on his face, and Melanie with hope, to see Tails and Chris flying at them in the Tornado airplane! Eggman had to duck to avoid being hit by the small plane, forcing his hovercraft back over the building roof, much to Melanie's relief.

That relief was short-lived however, when she heard Eggman command, "Attention Missile Wrist, take aim at that plane, blast it out of the sky!" "NO!" Melanie shouted, fear for her brother's safety coursing through her as the robot started to shoot at her brother and Tails. Chris, who was clinging to Tail's seat, as the Fox swerved and dived to avoid the Missiles, heard his sister's shout. Opening his eyes, he glanced around, and when he spotted her tied up and dangling from Eggman's hovercraft, he gasped and shouted, "Melanie! Tails, Eggman has Melanie, we have to save her!"

"A little busy right now Chris!" Tails shouted back, as he focused on keeping the plane from being hit. As the Missiles kept coming he stated with determination, "Two can play at that game, hang on Chris!" He turned the plane around, avoided another missile, and started to shoot at the robot as well. Only… it wasn't causing any damage! "It's no use, its armor is to thick!" Tails was so distracted about not making a dent in the robot, that he failed to notice another missile had been launched! Both Melanie and Chris had noticed and at the same time shouted, "TAILS LOOK OUT!" Tails pulled up on the controls, but it was to late, the missile smashed into the plane's propeller, causing the plane to immediately start to fall.

Tears sprung to Melanie's eyes, thinking that the two were going to crash, and started to thrash around in her metal bindings viciously, causing Eggman's hovercraft to teeter and wobble, making him holler, "Hey! Quit you're squirming, your still my hostage until I say otherwise!" Melanie was about to snap back that she had every right to squirm because he just killed her brother, when suddenly the Blue Tornado soared back up into the sky! Tears of relief fell down Melanie's cheeks, happy to see that Tails was capable of keeping him and her brother safe as they continued to attack and evade the robot and it's missiles.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the next city over, Sonic was enjoying a nice run, when suddenly a commotion in front of a store had him pausing and backpedalling to see what was going on. He could hear people saying things like, "What's going on up there?" "That's a robot on the roof!" "I've never seen this before!" "Could this be an interplanetary invasion?" Curiosity piqued, Sonic zoomed up into the nearest tree behind the crowd to take a look. Apparently they were all watching the news on some display television screens, and the face that appeared laughing on the screen had Sonic frowning and stating, "Eggman. So he got sent here too." The image then changed to showing Tails and Chris trying to fight with the robot, making Sonic grin and state, "Time for me to join the party!"

Before he could jump down and zoom away however, another image caught his attention, this image showed the roof of the building where Eggman was hollering at his robot to decimate Tails, but what caught Sonic's attention wasn't Eggman, but rather the person he had dangling in a metal bind cuff from his flying machine. "Melanie…" Sonic breathed out in shock, his emerald eyes wide.

For it was definitely her, he could see, even from watching on a TV screen, that though she was defiantly glaring daggers every time Eggman so much as glanced at her, he somehow could just tell that she was frightened. How did she end up in that position in the first place? Wasn't she supposed to be playing volleyball with some friends? Sonic suddenly felt something stir in his chest that he had never felt before, and his face set with a fierce determination as he zoomed away towards the battle and promised quietly, "Hold on Melanie, I'm on my way."

* * *

Back at the battle scene, Knuckles and Amy had witnessed the whole thing, and both decided that they needed to help. Once they both reached the roof, Knuckles, for once, thought that they should have a plan before storming in to save their new friend Melanie. Amy on the other hand, was furious at Eggman for treating a girl like that and started to run forward with her Piko Piko hammer, ignoring Knuckles shouts to wait, as she yelled out, "Leave Melanie and Tails alone you big bully!" She swung her hammer at the cord that connected Melanie to Eggman's hovercraft. Surprisingly the cord, and the bindings around Melanie snapped, freeing her.

Melanie flexed her fingers and grinned at Amy, "Thank you Amy!" Amy grinned back and replied, "Anytime!" What the two girls failed to realize though, was that the robot was now looming over them! Melanie, with her surprisingly quick senses and reflexes, saw the robot's arm coming out of the corner of her vision, and shoving Amy away she said, "Look out Amy!" In pushing the female hedgehog away, Melanie was grabbed instead! Melanie couldn't help the shout of pain that escaped her, as the robot's grip was a LOT tighter and harder than the previous metal binding had been.

"MELANIE!" Her brother and all of her friend's shouted in worry. Knuckles leaped forward, intent on breaking the robot's wrist with his knuckle punch to be able to free the girl, but Eggman suddenly appeared in front of him and stated, "Hold it Knucklehead!" Knuckles paused, especially when Eggman continued stating, "One more step and the girl's a goner." He snapped his fingers, and Melanie tried so hard to hold in her scream of pain, but still gasped, as the air was quickly becoming harder to breath. In her mind, she thought desperately, 'where are you Sonic? Help me!'

As she struggled to stay conscious, she could hear Knuckles threatening Eggman, "Leave Melanie alone, or you'll be sorry!" Eggman growled back, "Sorry! I'm already sorry that you and your friends have survived! My only consolation is it seems that Sonic didn't… Or did he? Perhaps this is all a trap!"

Tails and Chris, who were still flying overhead, watched the scene with mounting concern, and Tails asked worriedly, "What if Sonic doesn't make it?" Chris felt the same worry, especially because it looked like his big sister wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer. Suddenly, something blue flashed in his peripheral vision, causing Chris to look down and see a blue streak zooming towards their location.

Grinning now in excitement, and relief, Chris shouted, "It's ok, help is on the way!" They then flew down towards Sonic's speeding form, and as Sonic approached, Chris called out, "Get him Sonic!" And successfully passed Sonic an energy ring to boost his power. Giving a smirk, Sonic replied, "Thanks!" And sped off towards the building that rest of the group, plus Eggman and the robot stood on.

While that exchange had been happening, the robot had made it's way to the edge of the roof to watch Sonic's approach. Melanie smiled a small smile as she saw the determination shining in Sonic's eyes. "He came…" She said softly, still struggling to breathe with the tight grip that the robot had on her. Suddenly Eggman commanded, "There he is! Get ready to fire Missile Wrist." And before Melanie knew it, she was being flung backwards through the air! Terrified of heights, Melanie couldn't help but scream and close her eyes to prevent looking at her ultimate demise.

Sonic, hearing her scream, sped up faster, but he knew he would be too late to catch her. Thankfully, Knuckles jumped up and caught Melanie. He then brought her over to safety where Amy was waiting to check and see if Melanie was ok, to which Melanie just hugged her new female friend in relief at being alive. Sonic and Knuckles exchanged a nod of acknowledgement, then Sonic used the ring to turn into a speed ball and sped towards Eggman and his robot.

Getting antsy, Eggman shouted at his robot, "Hurry, fire!" Everyone watched as the robot released a bunch of missiles that Sonic seemed to easily evade, then one seemed to explode and for a moment it looked like it did get the speedy blue hedgehog. Amy and Melanie held their breaths and prayed as Eggman said, "Finally…" but was interrupted as a blue blur shot past him and into the air! The girls released sighs of relief, but knew it wasn't quite over yet. Especially as Eggman shouted, "Fire away!"

Missile Wrist wrists shot towards Sonic, and Sonic… started dancing on them? Melanie felt like face palming at the hero's reckless behavior. As Sonic continued to taunt Eggman and his robot, Melanie finally had enough and shouted, "Stop showing off and finish it already!" But her shout was ignored as Knuckles called out excitedly, "Sonic! Try the old slap on the wrist!" To which Sonic replied with, "Yeah!" and did exactly what Knuckles said, causing the robot to break both of it's arms! He then jumped into the air as he said, "Bye!" Eggman then pointed at the gravity defying Sonic and shouted, "FIRE!" the robot released a bunch of missiles that all seemed to implode around Sonic!

"HA, HA!" Eggman hollered triumphantly, thinking he had finally gotten the blue hedgehog. Melanie simply shook her head tiredly and said, "I wouldn't be so happy if I were you…" Eggman looked at her in confusion, so she simply pointed upwards, making him look up and gasp in horror to see Sonic in speed ball form zooming downwards and destroying Missile Wrist in a big blue explosion!

Dust and debris shot everywhere and both Amy and Melanie huddled behind Knuckles who protected them from the blast. They could all hear Chris shouting joyfully, "All right Sonic!" As the dust cleared, Melanie looked up from her huddle with Amy to see Eggman a total dust covered wreck, and Sonic with not a scratch on him, standing in front of Eggman with a smirk and exclaiming, "You lose." Eggman just growled and said menacingly, "This isn't over, blue boy. You haven't seen the last of Eggman! Soon I will rule this world, this universe, and the chaos emeralds will be mine!" With that he floated away.

Melanie and Sonic watched him float away with smirks on their faces, both knowing that he won't ever win. Suddenly the silence was punctured by a high pitched, "OH SONIC! Sonic, you're ok!" Melanie watched as Amy latched herself onto an unsuspecting Sonic and seemed to almost squeeze the life out of him. As Sonic wheezed, "Take it easy!" Amy still held onto him and said happily, "For a while there Sonic, I thought I would never see you again!" Struggling to get out of her grip, Sonic begged, "Amy please, let me go!"

For some reason, watching Amy hug Sonic that way made an unpleasant feeling erupt in Melanie's stomach. She wasn't sure why, but she really didn't like the way Amy was acting towards Sonic. She didn't realize she was still staring at the two with a frown until Sonic's emerald eyes once again locked on to her sapphire ones.

Surprisingly finding the strength to pull away from Amy, Sonic approached Melanie who was sitting on the ground, and giving her a small smile asked, "Are you ok Melanie? You gave us all quite a scare." Hearing the concern, and seeing the smile that he gave her, Melanie found herself fighting down a blush as she slightly stuttered, "I-I'm ok. Going to be a little sore and bruised, but I will be fine." Unknown to the two of them, Knuckles and Amy watched with frowns on their faces. Something was going on between the human and the hedgehog they realized, they just were not sure of what it was yet.

The moment was ruined, however, when the sound of heavy thudding feet reached their ears, and they were soon surrounded by a SWAT team with guns pointing right at them! Melanie wasn't sure how much more her nerves could take today, as she cautiously raised her hands in a sign of peace and surrender. "All right, nobody move!" One of the SWAT men stated. Knuckles narrowed his eyes in a glare and asked, "Oh great, now what?" The man who seemed to be the spokesperson for the gunmen simply replied instead, "Don't try running away," Apparently it was the wrong thing to say to Knuckles, because he suddenly started giving off an aura of aggression and stated fiercely, "Knuckles never runs from a fight!" Melanie could almost picture the gunman sweat dropping as he said back, "Hey, easy pal."

Thankfully the confrontation was short-lived, as Tails took the opportune moment to interrupt by getting everyones attention by shouting, "Sonic!" He flew overhead with a rope ladder attached to the plane. Looking to Melanie, Sonic opened his arms in an offer to hold her, but Melanie's fear of heights resurged and she shook her head quickly saying, "No, take Amy, and Knuckles, I will be fine." Sonic looked a little hesitant and so Melanie continued saying, "I'm a human, they won't do anything to me except maybe ask me questions and examine me medically to make sure I'm not injured. With you guys, I'm scared that they would take you too Area 99 again or worse. Go please?" At the pleading look in Melanie's eyes, Sonic simply sighed and asked, "As long as you promise to meet us at the house later?" Melanie gave a small smile and a nod in agreement, so with that, Sonic grabbed Amy with one hand and the rope ladder with the other. It took Knuckles a moment but he as well grabbed the ladder.

Once the group was safely away from the rooftop, Melanie turned towards the SWAT team, who all had their guns lowered now that the strange creatures were gone and were giving her odd looks, she just gave them all a tired smile, feeling her adrenaline finally leaving her, and said simply, "I think that was enough excitement for one day…" And promptly passed out.


	4. Chapter 4: The First Chaos Emerald

**Chapter Four: The First Chaos Emerald**

When Melanie next woke up, she found herself in bed, at home, late at night. Sighing in relief at not being in a hospital, Melanie glanced around the room and was surprised to see all of her new friends and her brother, minus Knuckles, sprawled out around her room in various positions of sleep. The only one who did not seem to be sleeping, was a familiar blue hedgehog.

Sonic was sitting on her windowsill, with his hands behind his head and a frown on his face, as he stared outside at the evening sky. Smiling a small smile, Melanie called out softly, "Sonic?"

Sonic's head whipped in her direction, eyes wide in surprise at her being awake. Quickly, he made his way over to her bed and sat down beside her, and quietly so as not to wake the others in the room, he asked, "How are you feeling Mel?" Melanie thought for a moment, then replied, "Sore, but I suppose that is better than what I could be feeling." She gave him a smile, but he did not return it, instead he said, "Melanie you are lucky to have survived. Eggman bruised four of your ribs, nearly breaking them with the amount of force his robot squeezed you with. Heck, the doctor that came to check on you told Chuck that you could have died from lack of air!" Sonic's voice raised a little at the end, but he immediately quieted when Cream started fidgeting in her sleep.

Melanie's smile turned softer, and reaching out a hand, she gently grabbed Sonic's hand and replied, "But I didn't die, I'm still here, see?" Sonic involuntarily blushed as Melanie held his hand, and Melanie thought that he looked adorable when he blushed. Then her own blush appeared when Sonic started using his thumb to make a rhythmic pattern of circles on the top of her hand, with the hand that held her hand.

They stayed like that for a few minutes in companionable silence, until finally Sonic asked, "Melanie, how did you end up in Egghead's clutches anyway?" Melanie chuckled and explained everything that happened to her from the beach to the roof. When she was done explaining, Sonic couldn't help but shake his head in exasperation and state, "Trouble just seems to follow you everywhere doesn't it?" Melanie softly chuckled in reply and said, "I hope not."

The two grinned at each other, then releasing Melanie's hand, Sonic stood up and stated, "It's late, you need to get some more sleep to help yourself recover faster." Settling back into her pillows, Melanie gave Sonic a sleepy glare and replied, "You get some sleep as well Sonic." He replied with a thumbs up and headed out to his usual spot out on the roof. As they both fell asleep, the human girl and the hedgehog male, both thought the same thing. That their hand now felt abnormally cold and tingling, without a certain someone else's hand to keep it warm.

* * *

While this little scene between Sonic and Melanie was happening, at the same time in an airplane flying overhead, the President of the United States was in an uproar about the latest strange events happening in his Country. Angrily, he shouted at his Secretary and one of his advising Agents, "Then, where are they!" His advising Agent, who had spiky red hair and wore glasses, replied calmly to the President's outburst, "It seems the Hedgehog and his Friends are staying with a family in Station Square. And our agents have traced Eggman to an island somewhere in the Southern Sea."

Pointing an accusing finger at the Agent, the President then said, "Well get going, I want them captured!" Not seeming fazed by the President's anger, the Agent continued calmly, stating, "With all due respect, it might be best to keep them under surveillance so we can observe their behavior."

Sitting back a little in his chair, the President gruffly replied, "That's all well and good, but you had better pay special attention to that dangerous Eggman character." Nodding in agreement, the Agent stated, "We've already set out a reconnaissance team Mr. President. They'll be sure to report back any suspicious activities."

Finally calmed, knowing that the dangerous villain was being closely watched, the President sat back in his chair in a more relaxed position and asked the Agent another question that had been bothering him, "Any word on the Animals?" The Agent nodded again and said, "We have our operatives watching them too sir, and we're dispatching an undercover Agent to get information on the boy and his older sister. If there's any unusual activity, we'll know about it." At the words, older sister, the President leaned forward in his chair again and asked with a little concern this time, "How is the girl by the way?" This time, the President's Secretary spoke up, saying, "We don't know too much information sir, due to the HIPAA law. All the doctor was able to tell us was that the girl will be all right." The President nodded in acceptance of that answer, and they continued the rest of their airplane ride in silence.

* * *

The next day, before heading to school, Chris made sure that his sister was ok, she gave him a reassuring smile from her reclining position on Grandpa Chuck's couch and said, "Don't worry about me Chris, I'm doing much better now. Plus I have Grandpa and our friend's to take care of me while you are gone." Gesturing to Amy and Cream who were sitting on either side of her and to Tails and Sonic who were sitting together over by the window. Chris nodded and with that wished everyone a good day, and headed off to school. It was Monday, and they were starting a new Semester this week at school, making Chris wonder as he headed to his classroom, if he would be able to concentrate at all, what with all the excitement happening at home now.

Once Chris left for the day, Melanie turned back to Amy, who she had been talking with before her brother had come in and asked, "So what were you saying about Chaos Emeralds? They have a magical power?" Amy nodded her head and replied, "Yep! Each Chaos Emerald is filled with a magical power, so you can imagine what would happen if you found all seven of them." Suddenly Grandpa Chuck entered the conversation, entering the room with a cup of tea that he brought over to his recovering granddaughter and said, "But nobody has ever found all seven Emeralds and now it is highly improbable that anyone ever will find them."

Cream tilted her head in curiosity and asked, "Why is that?" Taking a seat at his work station, Chuck replied, "Well you see Cream, every one of the precious Chaos Emeralds has disappeared." Suddenly Sonic, who had been quiet for the majority of the conversation, spoke up, "That doesn't mean they are gone for good. Every time the seven Chaos Emeralds gather together in one place, they scatter and disappear all over again."

Melanie's eyes widened as she realized, "Then that means they're still out there someplace!" She then had to fight down a blush, when Sonic turned to her and gave her a thumbs up saying, "That's right!" Feeling annoyed at herself for all of these strange reactions and feelings she felt whenever Sonic did something around or towards her, Melanie focused her attention onto little Tails as he started to speak.

"Only we don't have any idea of knowing where! If they're on this planet that's good, but if they're still on the planet we came from we may never get back home!" Melanie smiled at the young Fox and replied, "Now, now, don't go losing hope yet. We still have to try and see if the Emeralds are here or not. Don't give up so easily, right Sonic?" Melanie looked up to see Sonic smile as well and reply, "Yeah, no worries!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Chris arrived at school. As he entered his classroom, he immediately noticed that the main topic of conversation was about all the strange events that had happened over the weekend involving Sonic and his friends. Chris sighed and realized, it was going to be a long day. Especially when his two best friends kept asking him what he thought about the mysterious blue hedgehog.

Suddenly the classroom door opened, and to the surprise of the class, the Principal himself walked in, followed by a very handsome young man who wore half framed spectacles on his nose. They all watched as the Principal cleared his throat and said, "Children, I would like to make a brief announcement to you all. Your teacher, Ms. Westerly, will be taking a long leave of absence, therefore she will not be with you for this Semester," Chris and his classmates all shared shocked looks, but the Principal was not done speaking, "Please say hello to Mr. Stewart, who will be your substitute teacher until further notice." The man smiled at the students and said, "Hello children!" They all greeted him in return, and with that the school day continued.

Finally the lunch bell rang. As Chris and his friend, Danny, got ready to head to the cafeteria, Danny suddenly told Chris he had to use the restroom. So stopping in front of the restrooms, Chris waited for his friend. Soon he started to get a little impatient and called out, "Come on Danny! Hurry up!" Not noticing a shadow suddenly approach him from behind until they spoke, saying, "Christopher Thorndyke?"

Chris stiffened in surprise, then slowly turned around to find his new teacher, Mr. Stewart standing behind him. Once he turned around to face his teacher, Mr. Stewart continued speaking, "The Principal told me your name and well, I was wondering if you are the same Christopher Thorndyke whose father is the CEO of the Starship Company, Nelson Thorndyke, and whose mother is the famous film actress Lindsey Fair? And who also has an older sister who is the famous black belt champion, Melanie Thorndyke?"

Blinking in surprise that his new teacher knew so much about his family, Chris replied, "Yeah, that's me." Mr. Stewart smiled then and replied, "Well I must say Christopher, it is a privilege to meet the son of such a distinguished family." Still a little confused, Chris politely replied, "Thanks, that's very nice of you to say." Holding his hand out, Mr. Stewart then said, "Good meeting you Christopher," Shaking his teacher's hand, Chris replied again, "Good to meet you too." Standing straight up again, Mr. Stewart then asked, "By the way, this might sound strange, but do you have a favorite animal?" Caught off guard by the out of nowhere question, Chris stuttered as he replied, "Well, uh, I, um… Hedgehogs I guess!"

"Ah…" Mr. Stewart replied, making Chris frown and ask, "Is that weird?" Mr. Stewart simply smiled and replied, "No, not at all!" making Chris smile.

Finally Danny came out and said, "Hey Chris! Sorry, let's go!" Turning back to their teacher, Chris said, "It was nice talking with you Mr. Stewart, see ya!" Then he and Danny started to walk away and talk with each other, unaware that their supposed substitute teacher was still listening to their conversation as Danny asked Chris, "So Chris, is your sister coming today for Martial Arts club again? She is so awesome when she teaches!" Chris chuckled and replied, "Danny, you think everything my sister does is awesome because you still have a crush on her." Even with the boys backs to him, Mr. Stewart could tell that Danny was blushing furiously as he shouted, "I do not!"

Before the boys turned the corner at the end of the hallway towards the lunch room, he heard Chris say, "And no, Danny, she isn't coming today. She had a bad fall the other day and bruised a few of her ribs, so she is staying home to recover." Then the rest of the conversation was lost as the boys turned the corner, leaving Mr. Stewart to think to himself, "Interesting…"

* * *

Back at the Thorndyke residence, since both Ella and Mr. Tanaka went out to buy groceries and do a few other errands, Melanie found it safe enough to bring Cream and Cheese down with her to the living room to sit and watch some TV. Turning on the TV, it seemed that the news was playing at the moment. Melanie glanced down at her two companions and smiled in amusement as she saw the two of them start to nod off.

Suddenly, Melanie's attention snapped back to the TV, as the reporter's voice said, "Unusual gemstone was discovered today at a department store construction site…" Grabbing the remote, Melanie turned the volume up a little bit to make sure she did not miss anything as the reporter continued to say, "Eyewitnesses at the site report that construction machinery seemed to malfunction whenever it came in close contact with the strange jewel. The stone does appear to be radiating an invisible, highly charged energy. Now, some of you watching at home may be experiencing some static, this is a direct result of the gem's magnetic power." Melanie was 100% sure that the gem that the reporter was talking about was one of the mysterious Chaos Emeralds that she and the others had been talking about earlier. Her thoughts were confirmed when the reporter held up a picture and said, "This is an artist's rendering…" Waking Cream and Cheese, Melanie told them, "We have to find Sonic, they found a Chaos Emerald!"

Cream and Cheese were immediately awake and jumped off the couch, together the three of them hurried out of the house and looked frantically around for the blue Hedgehog. Suddenly spotting him in a tree, just waking from a nap, Melanie pointed him out to Cream, and she immediately started calling out to him as she ran, "Sonic! Sonic! You won't believe it!" Looking down at the group coming towards his tree, Sonic asked, "What's up?" Unable to resist a tease, Melanie smiled briefly before becoming serious again and said, "Well normally I would say you, since your up in a tree, but we have something more serious to tell you." Sonic gave her a brief annoyed glance, before sliding down the tree as Cream kept saying urgently, "They found one! They found one!" Tilting his head in confusion, Sonic asked Cream, "Slow down Cream, who found what now?" The two girls then looked to each other, before turning back to Sonic and stating, "A Chaos Emerald!"

Later, as the other's got the Tornado ready for take off, Sonic and Melanie stood out in front of the house. Both had their arms crossed and were glaring daggers at each other. Finally Melanie said, "Let me come with you!" Sonic shook his head and replied, "No can do, Mel, your still injured. Or did you forget about that little detail?" Melanie snorted and replied, "I bet that has never stopped you before. Come on Sonic! I know where that construction site that they were talking about is, let me come with you so that I can lead you to the right place." Sonic shook his head stubbornly and replied, "And I say I can find it just fine, and that you need to stay home and rest!" With that Sonic zoomed off, and Melanie threw her hands up in the air letting out a strangled half scream of frustration and exasperation and what suspiciously sounded like, "Boys!"

Walking back to her Grandpa's garage, she could see that the others were ready to go. Walking up to them, she heard Amy say, "I hope Sonic knows where he is going, if he gets lost, we won't know where to look for him." Still angry at Sonic for treating her like a porcelain doll, Melanie stormed past all of them and to her car. Jumping in, she started the engine and rolled up to the plane, calling out, "If that stubborn-headed Hedgehog doesn't know where it is, I do. So if you lose sight of him, just follow me!" And with that she zoomed off, leaving three very confused Mobians and one Grandpa who was smiling in wry amusement.

* * *

Back at Chris's school, they had just gotten into math class and Mr. Stewart was demonstrating a math problem for them to solve. Chris, getting bored with the lesson because he was advanced when it came to math, glanced out the window wondering how Sonic and the others were doing. Suddenly the Tornado flew past the school in the air, making Chris gasp in surprise. Chris's female friend looked at him confused and whispered, "What are you looking at Chris?" Chris simply stood up and called to the teacher, "Excuse me, Mr. Stewart, I'll be right back, I got to do something." And ran out of the classroom door! Suddenly Mr. Stewart turned to the class and said, "Keep working class, I need to step out for a moment. Study quietly while I'm gone." And with that he went out the door as well too follow his young charge.

Chris had grabbed his roller skates from his locker and was now racing down the street trying to find the little blue plane again, not knowing that his teacher was quietly following him in his car. Suddenly a blue convertible zoomed passed Mr. Stewart's car and pulled up next to the young boy. The top of the car was pulled back so he could see that a young woman was driving the vehicle. Turning on the hidden microphone he had implanted in the boy's helmet during lunch, Mr. Stewart heard Chris exclaim in surprise, "Melanie! What are you doing here?"

The young woman's voice then sounded over the microphone, and Mr. Stewart found himself silently gasping at how lovely her voice sounded, even though she also sounded annoyed as she replied, "I should be asking you that mister. Why are you not in school?"

Chris sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as he explained, "Well I saw Tails and Amy in the Tornado and wanted to find out what they were doing, so…" Shaking her head in exasperation, Melanie mumbled something under her breath that suspiciously sounded like, "Boys can be such idiots." Looking at her brother she gave him a look that he knew meant he was in trouble as she said sternly, "Get in," He obeyed and with that the blue convertible raced off, with Mr. Stewart continuing to stealthily follow behind.

As they drove, Melanie gave the brief explanation to her brother about what was going on. He nodded excitedly in understanding and asked, "So Sonic and the others are trying to find it before Eggman does, right?" Melanie nodded her head and said, "Exactly, luckily for the two of us, I know where the construction site is."

Later, with the sudden appearance of Eggman, the construction site was now deserted. Melanie and Chris pulled up and got out heading towards the sight. "Where did everybody go?" Chris asked in confusion, looking around for any sign of people. Melanie was looking around as well, but for a different purpose, "If I were an Emerald, where would I be?" She muttered to herself. Suddenly they both heard the familiar sound of Eggman's hovercraft approaching and quickly hid behind a blue canvas.

They watched as Eggman got out of his hovercraft and came towards where they were hiding. Holding their breath's in anticipation, they watched as Eggman lifted the other side of the canvas up and started digging with his hand, soon uncovering a green glow that the two siblings knew for a fact was the mysterious Chaos Emerald!

Eggman grinned in triumph, but before he could grab it, Chris ran forward and swiped it from the ground! Enraged, Eggman yelled, "Give that back to me!" Ignoring the villain standing near him, Chris looked down at the Emerald in awe and said, "I can't believe it, I found the Chaos Emerald." Then raising it up in excitement he shouted, "Look Melanie, we did it!" His excitement turned to confusion though, when he saw his sister running towards him yelling, "Chris look out!" Suddenly something knocked into his hand holding the Emerald, making him drop it and have it land into Eggman's outstretched hand! "Hey thats mine!" Chris yelled out indignantly, causing Eggman to grin at him and say, "Sorry, not anymore. Besides my dear boy you hardly know what to do with such a thing!"

By this time Melanie was now standing next to her brother and leveling an icy glare at Eggman as she stated, "We know enough. Now give it here Eggman." Eggman paused in his walk back to his craft and slowly turned around to regard the defiant young woman standing next to the pesky little boy. He regarded her up and down and said, "Well, well, well, still alive and kicking I see," Suddenly he gave the two of them a sinister grin, making Chris involuntarily take a step closer to his big sister as Eggman said, "Heh heh, you know, I might just consider handing the Emerald back… on a condition of course." Melanie narrowed her eyes suspiciously and placed a hand in front of her brother protectively as she asked, "And what condition is that?" Spreading his hands in a gesture of explanation, Eggman exclaimed, "I will give the Emerald back if you consider leaving that pesky Hedgehog's side and joining me to become Queen of the Eggman Empire!"

Both Melanie and Chris's eyes widened in shock, and Melanie's face drained of all color as she shakily asked, "W-wh-what?!" Eggman continued to grin seeing the shock that his offer left the pretty young lady in. So heading back to his craft he said, "Looks like you need some time to think it over. Meanwhile I will keep ahold of this." Chris shook himself out of his shock first and ran after Eggman, fighting with him for the Emerald and then as Eggman started to fly away, he held on to the craft and got lifted away as well! Melanie finally seemed to come back to her senses in time to hear her brother's scream of, "Help!"

"Chris!" She called out worriedly, running after the hovercraft. Suddenly a blue blur whizzed by her, then paused and came back to her, revealing Sonic! "Melanie, what's going on? Why are you out here and why is Chris calling for help?" Ignoring her anger towards him at the moment, Melanie explained to Sonic that Chris was trying to get the Emerald back from Eggman before being carried away. She omitted the part of Eggman's bizarre proposal, thinking it would be better to tell him that later.

Hearing what happened, Sonic nodded and said, "Ok, don't worry Mel, I'll get him." Melanie gave him a small smile and replied, "I know." With that Sonic zoomed away. Wanting to make sure Chris would be ok, Melanie ran after Sonic just to see how everything would turn out. Suddenly she spotted the same green car that had been following her and Chris earlier whizz by with its back open and seats inflated like a giant cushion, Melanie's eyes widened in horror, and her gaze turned to the sky, to see her little brother falling!

Thankfully, Sonic got there in time. Seeing the green car slow down and deflate its backseat again, Melanie hurried over to the car to find out who had been following her and her brother all afternoon. Sadly before she could reach the car, it turned and started to drive away… Toward the school? Melanie's eyes narrowed in suspicion again, but decided that she would dwell on it later. Walking back to her car, she hopped in and headed for home where she knew Sonic would have taken Chris.

* * *

She arrived back home to find everyone in Grandpa Chuck's loft room, admiring the Emerald. As she walked up to admire it herself, she heard Cream say excitedly, "Now that we have one, we just need six more!"

Amy nodded her head in agreement and replied, "That's right Cream!" While Chuck and Tails discussed where and how to keep the Emerald, Melanie suddenly felt a strange sensation, as if the gem was calling out to her in a whisper. Before she could figure it out for certain, Chris drew her attention away from the fascinating Emerald as he approached Sonic and said, "Um… Sonic? I'm Sorry."

Looking confused, Sonic asked, "What are you sorry for?" Looking down, Chris replied, "Well, for losing…" Laying a hand on her brother's shoulder, Melanie cut her brother off and said, "You got it back right?" And Sonic chimed in saying, "That's all that matters Chris." Chris looked up in surprise at the blue hedgehog, as the hedgehog held a thumbs up and said, "I think you did a great job!" Chris smiled big and asked happily, "I did?"

Grandpa Chuck walked over to stand between his two grandchildren and smiling he said, "You sure did Chris, just be a little more careful next time." All three humans chuckled at that.

Soon everyone split off to do their own thing. Cream and Amy went to go find some flowers in a hidden part of the yard, Chris went to his room to go start on his homework, Tails and Chuck started examining the Emerald and working together to figure out how to store it so it would not interfere with all the other electrical devices.

Sonic and Melanie… Well they stayed in the same positions. The hedgehog lounging on the window sill, and the human standing in front of him with her arms crossed. For a while neither said anything, they just stared into each other's eyes, each wondering who would speak first after the argument that they had had earlier that same day. Finally both couldn't take it anymore and broke eye contact, Melanie looked down to her toes, while Sonic looked up like he was admiring the ceiling. Plucking up her courage, Melanie sighed and said, "Look, Sonic I… I'm…"

"Sorry," Sonic said before Melanie could, making her quickly look up at him in surprise and ask, "What?" Looking out the window, Sonic continued saying, "I said sorry Mel. I should never have snapped at you like that. Your able to take care of yourself and you know your limits, I just… For some reason I just didn't want to see you hurt again." He stiffened in shock and surprise when he suddenly felt arms and the light smell of Rosemary mint, wrap around him in a gentle hug. As he slowly returned the hug, he heard Melanie's voice quietly say, "Thank you Sonic, and I am sorry as well. Friends?"

For some reason Sonic felt a pang of something almost akin to disappointment or another unknown feeling at Melanie's asking them if they are friends. He surprisingly enjoyed holding her in a hug like this. So tightening his grip a little bit he replied firmly, "Best Friends."

Unknown to the two, Grandpa Chuck and Tails were still in the corner and had witnessed the whole scene. Grandpa Chuck chuckled to himself, he could see as clear as day what was happening between the two youths, now he was going to enjoy watching and waiting to see when either of them would realize it. Tails, on the other hand, was surprisingly frowning the same way that Amy and Knuckles did. Noticing Tails frown, Chuck leaned down and whispered to Tails, "What's wrong? I think it's quite amusing myself." Tails glanced briefly to Chuck before looking back to the hedgehog and human who were now not hugging anymore but were now just smiling and talking animatedly about some random topic.

Speaking quietly to Chuck, Tails stated, "I don't disprove of their friendship Chuck. I am just hoping that it stays as a friendship and doesn't… change to something else, that would be bad." Raising an eyebrow, Chuck asked in curiosity, "What do you mean Tails?" Sighing, Tails turned back to their invention and said, "I'll tell you later Chuck." Leaving Grandpa Chuck to wonder, just what was it that made lively Tails so solemn?


	5. Chapter 5: Meet the Parents

**Author's Note:** _This chapter took longer to write than I thought. So sorry for all of my waiting readers. I am also sorry if the ending is not very great. Had a hard time picking a good conclusion point. There was one part I wanted to do, but if I did it, then the chapter would have been an extra page long! So I decided that it will be in the next chapter as it's beginning._

 _Also, you will see this mark in the story (*) this mark indicates that the name "Mr. Intel" is only an abbreviation of the actual name from the show. I could not for the life of me figure out how to spell it the way they kept pronouncing it in the TV show, so I improvised. If you have seen the show, you can imagine that "Mr. Intel" is how they pronounce it._

 _Anyways Hope you enjoy! And Please favorite, follow, or if you would like, leave a nice review to let me know any ideas that you may have. :)_

* * *

 **Chapter Five: Meet the Parents**

Life after the First Emerald proceeded pretty normally, well, as normally as you could get when hiding a group of Mobians in your home and worrying about when an evil psychopath will strike next.

About a week after they found the Emerald, Sonic, Chris, Tails and Amy had another run in with Eggman in Silver Valley, while Melanie was gone at a Martial Arts Tournament. When she came back, and heard the story from an excited Tails and Chris, she scolded them for being so reckless in going by themselves and to next time notify her or Grandpa so that they have at least one adult to help them.

After that incident, things seemed to calm down, which everyone was grateful for. About a month later, Melanie was outside in the early morning doing some stretches outside in the sunshine, when she felt a breeze zoom by her. Not even bothering to open her eyes, she called out, "Good morning Sonic!" Without looking, she heard when he skidded to a stop and then raced back in her direction. Only when she knew he was standing in front of her did she open her eyes to the blue Hedgehog's smiling face as he greeted back, "Good Morning Mel! Whatcha doing?" Currently Melanie was on the ground doing a perfect splits, while leaning forward with her forearms on the ground. Turning her head up to smile at Sonic, she replied, "I'm just doing some stretches this morning. Where did you go this morning?" Shrugging, Sonic simply said, "Just out." Melanie rolled her eyes at her friend's vague response, knowing for a fact that if he wanted to, he could visit the whole other side of the country and be back in about two hours.

Sonic soon left Melanie to finish her Martial Arts stretches. When she was done and did a little practice, she headed inside to find Ella had just finished making a nice healthy breakfast for both her and Chris. "Looks delicious! Thank you Ella." Ella smiled and asked, "How did your practice go?" Grinning, Melanie replied, "Really well. I think if I keep practicing, I will finally be able to break that silly tie between Tommy and I." Ella nodded and replied, "Good, now sit and eat. Can't do much on an empty stomach."

As Melanie sat down and started to dish herself some scrambled eggs and toast, Chris decided to finally make an appearance. Yawning and looking still half asleep, he trudged towards his seat and sat down, placing his head on the table like he wanted to fall asleep again. Giggling, his older sister asked, "Trouble sleeping little brother?" Chris lifted his head and sent his wide awake older sister a sleepy glare, "I stayed up late chatting with Sonic and Tails, forgetting that I have school today." Melanie shrugged and buttering her toast, replied, "Your own fault then." Chris mumbled a few random things under his breath, but sat up and began to dish himself some food.

When Ella came back into the room, bringing some fruit for the siblings to eat with their eggs and toast, the phone started ringing. Mr. Tanaka answered and Melanie could hear him say, "Thorndyke Residence… very good sir." Melanie watched as her Sensei walked in and announced, "Your Father has requested that I inform you both that he and your Mother will be stopping by for a visit this afternoon." Mentally, Melanie scowled at the news, but outwardly she gave a small smile as she watched her little brother go from half asleep to wide awake and exclaim, "Wow Ella, they're coming to see us!" Ella smiled at Chris as well and replied, "What a nice surprise!" Though, when Chris was not looking, she cast Melanie a quick concerned look, which Melanie quickly waved her hand in an 'I'm fine' gesture.

Both of their attention went back to Chris when he then stated happily, "It's not even my birthday!" Suddenly his expression changed from super happy to worried, as he said, "Uh oh…" The three adults blinked in surprise at Chris's shift in attitude, "Is there something wrong?" Tanaka asked, looking with concern at his young charge. Melanie raised an eyebrow as Chris hastily replied, "No, I'm all done, can I go now?" Nodding, Ella replied, "Yes, go ahead."

Getting up, Chris thanked Ella and was about to run out of the room, when his sister, who was now nursing a warm cup of tea in her hands, called out, "Don't take too long Chris, remember I'm driving you to school today, since I'm volunteering in your classroom." Turning, Chris saw Melanie's knowing expression. She figured that Chris was running off to warn their friends about their parents visiting today. Sticking his tongue out, he replied, "I'll be quick." And then ran off.

Once Chris was out of the room, both Tanaka and Ella turned to look at each other with knowing looks, then looked at their oldest charge. She seemed to be staring off into her own world, thinking. Both Ella and Tanaka knew that Melanie held a grudge against her parents. They also knew that she loved them, but just did not know how to express her true feelings to her constantly busy parents. Clearing his throat to get her attention, Tanaka asked, "Miss Thorndyke, might it be best to finally have a talk with your Parents at this visit?" Melanie simply shot her Sensei an annoyed look and replied, "They're not going to listen, they never do…" Then shaking her head, as if to clear it of something, Melanie politely excused herself from the table as well, too go finish getting ready for the day.

Ten minutes later, Melanie sat impatiently in her blue convertible car outside her Grandpa's garage. Tapping the steering wheel, she groaned out loud, "What is taking him so long? He is going to be late at this rate!" Suddenly Melanie heard a tapping on her window, and turned to see Sonic smiling and waving at her through her car window. Smiling in return, Melanie rolled the window down and said, "What's up?" Sonic's smile faded and became serious as he replied, "Chris told us your Parents are going to be visiting today. I remember your reaction, the last time you talked with them over the phone, so I wanted to see if you are ok?" Melanie's smile faded as well. Sighing, she answered, "No, but I'll manage…" Tilting his head, Sonic asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Just then Chris came crashing down the stairs and Melanie almost wanted to face-palm at the clumsiness of her brother. Looking back to Sonic, who was smiling in amusement of Chris's antics, Melanie got his attention again by replying, "Thank you for your offer Sonic, but it will have to wait for another time, I've got to get this clumsy boy to school." With that she honked the car horn to get Chris to speed it up in getting his butt in the car. Once he was in, they headed off, with Sonic watching them drive off with a fond smile.

* * *

After the siblings left for the day, Tails turned to Chuck and asked, "Chris sure is happy about his folks visit, huh Chuck?" Nodding Chuck replied, "Yes, he is." Interested to know more, Amy asked, "What do they do?" Smiling, Chuck replied,

"Their Dad is President of a huge Software company. He spends most of his time at the Office or traveling on business." Looking awed, Amy then asked, "And what about their mom?"

"She's a Star. A famous actress who jets all around the world making movies." Thinking for a moment, Tails then stated, "I bet its pretty tough for them, not having their parents around most of the time." Sighing, Chuck replied, "Yes…" Looking sad, Amy then said, "They must miss them." Looking sad as well, Chuck responded, "It's a little more complicated than that Amy. Yes, Chris certainly misses them, but Melanie…. It is the sole reason that she refuses to leave Chris alone." Chuck left the conversation at that, but Amy and Tails understood the unspoken message, that no child should experience the feeling of being left alone.

* * *

Meanwhile, Melanie got Chris to school in the nick of time. While he ran off to class, she parked her car and headed in to the school's main office to sign in and get her volunteer badge for the day. Once she was done and verified with the Physical Education teacher that yes, she would be starting up the Martial Arts club again now that she was healthy again, Melanie headed to Chris's classroom to meet Chris's new teacher and see if she could help in his classroom for a little bit.

As she walked towards Chris's classroom, she suddenly noticed a strange robot wandering the halls towards Chris's classroom as well. Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, Melanie followed the robot to see if it was up to something. Sure enough, it went straight for Chris's room. Deciding to watch and see what would happen, Melanie waited for the robot to open the classroom door and have his attention distracted, before she snuck down the hallway. Once she was a few feet from the door she could hear the robot saying in a cheerful voice, "My, my, what an intelligent looking class! Oh? Perhaps I arrived during nap time?"

Melanie frowned in confusion, Chris was in fourth grade, they were to old to be taking naps in class, so what was the robot talking about? Her thoughts were brought back to the present moment when she heard the robot state, "A robot teacher, hmmm, goodbye! I'm taking over." She then heard a drowsy male voice ask, "You are?" and the robot simply replied, "I am!" And the next thing Melanie knew, a young man about six years older than herself, was thrown out into the hallway and the door closed neatly behind him! Melanie blinked a few times in surprise, but then shook her head and approached the young man who looked angry at being thrown out of his own class. As he was muttering something about giving the Principal a piece of his mind, Melanie cleared her throat politely and asked, "Excuse me sir? Are you all right?"

Startled, the young man jumped to his feet and turned around to face Melanie. When he saw her, his face went a little slack in surprise. She wore a dark blue, with white flower patterns, short sleeved blouse today, with blue denim jeans and white flats. Her hair was in its usual low hanging ponytail, but this time she also wore a white headband that had a flower design on it to match her shirt. Tilting her head in confusion, Melanie asked again, "Sir? Are you all right?" Her words brought him out of his surprise, and shaking his head to clear it, the young man stated, "No, I am not all right mam'e. I just had a robot throw me out of my own classroom! I'm going to have words with the Principal, thinking they can replace me with a robot huh?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Melanie replied, "You seem fine to me, I just thought I would check. Have a great day!" Turning, Melanie was about to leave, but before she could take a step, however, the man suddenly grabbed her wrist and asked, "Wait! What's your name?"

Turning her head in surprise to look at him, Melanie noticed the lightest shade of pink on the man's cheeks as he realized what he just did. Smirking, Melanie easily maneuvered her hand out of his grasp and said, "Why would I give you my name, when I don't even know yours?" She watched in satisfaction as the man's cheeks seemed to go a little redder in embarrassment and he replied, "My apologies, my name is Mr. Stewart… but you can call me Tony." Smiling a little, to relieve some of the poor man's embarrassment, she replied, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Stewart. My name is Melanie." Mr. Stewart raised an eyebrow in confusion and asked, "Just Melanie?" Smirking again, she replied, "You'll find out my last name soon enough. Didn't you say that you have a Principal to go see?"

With that, Mr. Stewart ran off in another angry rant about robot teachers and Melanie shook her head in amusement, before turning to Chris's classroom door and deciding that she might as well see if she can still 'help' in her brother's classroom, if only to make sure that the robot wasn't hurting her brother or his friends.

Approaching it, she took a deep breath, and then knocked three times on the door. After a moment she heard the robot respond, "Enter." The moment she opened the door and stepped into the classroom, the children immediately perked up and called happily, "Miss Melanie!" Melanie smiled fondly and replied, "Hello everyone, nice to see you all again." Then turning her attention to the confused looking robot, she pretended to look surprised and said, "Oh, I didn't know you guys had a new teacher!"

Walking over to the robot, who was standing at the blackboard in front of the class, she held out her hand politely and said, "Hello, my name is Melanie, I'm Chris's older sister. I come every Friday to help in the classroom. Though if you don't need any help, I can certainly go and come back a different day." The robot blinked it's robotic eyes a few times as if it was surprised. Then it seemed to make its mind up about something, for it started to shake her hand and reply, "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Melanie! Please excuse my surprise, I just started today and was not aware that you were coming. I can definitely use your help today. Currently we are going over math problems. If you could go around the room and help anyone who is needing a little more guidance, I will lead the rest of the class through it on the board." Nodding in agreement, Melanie got to work, going around and helping the children who were struggling while the rest watched the robot explain the equation on the board easily. "And that's how you crack an equation! Mathematics is a breeze if you keep your eye on the pie!"

While the robot and children were distracted, Melanie happened to glance towards the door to see Mr. Stewart's shocked face looking in on his happy class and the Principal chuckling next to him. Melanie and the Principal shared a wink before one of the children tapped her leg to get her attention to ask a question about another one of the math problems and she easily crouched down and began to help.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the classroom, the Principal was smiling and exclaimed, "That robot is a great teacher!" Mr. Stewart gave him a dumbfounded expression while he continued saying, "Sit in on his class and study his technique." Stuttering, Mr. Stewart asked, "But, but, why is the young lady in there as well?!" The Principal only smiled bigger and said, "Why, that's one of our school's favorite Alumni, Miss Melanie Thorndyke. She comes in every Friday to help around the school, mostly in her younger brother's class, who is in your class by the way."

* * *

The rest of the school day went by surprisingly nice for Melanie. The robot was actually a really great teacher and the children were, for once, having a ton of fun at school. After lunch, the robot turned to Melanie and said, "I think I will take the children outside for some fresh air!" Melanie smiled and replied, "Sounds great, the children will love it! I'll stay here and tidy things up a bit." The robot seemed to deflate a little at that and seemed to ask almost timidly, "Um, will you join us afterwards?" Laughing, she replied, "I don't see why not." Her answer made the robot seem to light up and be even more cheery than before, as he called the students together and took them outside.

Melanie shook her head in amusement. Then walking over to the homework table, she sat down and started organizing. Ten minutes into her work, the classroom door suddenly banged opened! Startled, Melanie's head shot up to see Mr. Stewart storm in with a police officer but then stop in shock and exclaim, "That mechanical menace kidnapped the kids!" Rolling her eyes at the unnecessary drama this strange man was making, Melanie stood up from her spot in the back of the class and walking into sight replied, "No it didn't."

Both Mr. Stewart and the Officer whirled around in surprise at the unexpected voice. Seeing it was just Melanie with her arms crossed, the Officer, who had a hamburger in his hand, looked to Mr. Stewart and said, "I thought you said that there was a damsel in distress? She doesn't look to be in distress to me." Melanie's look of amusement vanished, and eyes narrowing dangerously, she asked in a deathly calm voice, "Excuse me Officer, but what, did you just call me?" Both the Officer and Mr. Stewart flinched and the Officer hesitantly replied, "Um, this guy here, called the station, saying that his class had been overtaken by an evil robot and there was a damsel in distress being held hostage by it as well…"

By this point, Melanie was now glaring daggers at Mr. Stewart. If looks could kill, he would be dead several times over. Continuing to speak calmly, but both men could clearly hear the warning tone in her voice, she said, "Let me make myself very, very clear Mr. Stewart. I am not, nor will I EVER, be a damsel in distress. If I hear you call me that or anything other than my name again, I will personally show you who you are dealing with." Mr. Stewart gulped and suddenly remembered that Melanie Thorndyke was a top black belt Martial Artist. She could most likely pound him into the ground, several times, and not break a sweat!

Feeling that her warning had hit home. Melanie relaxed her posture once again and stated, "The students are outside. I was just about to head there myself if you would follow me." Then walking past the two men, Melanie made her way towards where she had a feeling the robot took the students.

Sure enough, the students were out on the baseball field learning how to play baseball. Not even bothering to see if the two men followed her or not, Melanie made her way over to the class and saw the robot teaching Chris how to pitch. Smiling, she looked around the field and saw other children learning to toss a baseball to each other. The only one not participating in the fun seemed to be a young blonde girl in a wheelchair. Walking over, Melanie gave the girl a warm smile and asked, "Hi, Helen right? How come your not joining in on the fun?" Helen looked up in surprise to see Melanie there and looking down at the ground again, she said sadly, "It's because I can't run around like the other kids can." Placing a hand on the girl's shoulder, Melanie replied, "Well, we will just have to remedy that won't we?"

As she wheeled Helen over to some mitts and balls, out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the male teacher and Police officer had indeed followed her to the field. But the officer thought that the kids were having fun. When Mr. Stewart snagged the Police officer's burger from him and the officer started to chase him, Melanie couldn't help but smirk in satisfaction. Served him right for messing with things that seem just fine.

Soon the children were ready to play a game of baseball. Melanie sat with both Helen and Chris's female friend, Frances, on the sidelines to enjoy the game. Helen looked a lot happier now, Melanie had helped her learn how to catch a baseball even when sitting stationary in a wheelchair.

They watched as Chris acted as pitcher while Danny was the catcher and the robot, now known as Mr. Intel*, was up to bat. "I'm ready!" He called to Chris. Melanie watched her brother with a fond expression, as he nodded his head in determination and did an impressive pitch. But Mr. Intel swung and knocked the ball clean out of the park! The students on the field watched in shock, while the students, and Melanie, on the sideline, watched in fascination. As he went around the bases, Mr. Intel said happily, "My first home-run! How thrilling! Baseball is such an exhilarating activity."

The game continued, and soon it was Chris' team's turn to bat. Danny hit a pretty nice ball, and Melanie was sure that it was going to be a home-run, but Mr. Intel proved everyone wrong by rocketing into the air and catching the ball! As everyone else wowed and cheered, Helen leaned over to Melanie and whispered, "I don't think that that is technically allowed." Melanie shrugged and replied, "It's just a game of fun, we aren't actually competing for anything."

Suddenly, Melanie's attention was drawn in a different direction, when her sensitive hearing picked up a high pitched voice saying, "Message for you!" Turning to find the sound, she saw a little black, imp looking robot, talking with Mr. Intel. Turning to the students, she said firmly, "All of you stay here, I'll find out what's going on." And with that she walked over to the two robots who seemed to be in a heated argument.

As she approached, she heard the teacher robot ask, "Do you mean he's miffed at me?" Raising her eyebrow in confusion, she watched the imp reply, "Sure the Doc's angry at ya, those kids are supposed to get stuck on him, not you bucket-brain!" By this time, Melanie was frowning in anger, slowly putting the pieces together to realize that this robot had been sent by Eggman to somehow brainwash the children! She almost spoke up, but suddenly Mr. Intel said something that had both her and the Imp looking at him in complete confusion. "That used to be my Mission! I'm afraid all that has changed."

The Imp, now looking bewildered, asked, "Huh? How come?" Mr. Intel then explained, "I was sent here to make these students admire Dr. Eggman. But I found it far more rewarding to be admired myself." Melanie couldn't help but feel the corner of her lips twitch upwards in a small smile. She agreed that children had that affect on people.

"What! You blow a circuit or something? Don't you know Dr. Eggman will turn you into scrap metal, you barrel of bolts!" The Imp cried out in anger. Sensing the children's growing curiosity to the strange commotion, Melanie stepped in front of the students and asked, "Mr. Intel? What's going on, is everything all right?"

The Robot did not seem to hear her as he puffed himself up proudly in front of the students and stated, "Dr. Eggman may do with me as he wishes, but I refuse to abandon my assistant and the students in my charge." The children all smiled and started shouting out how Mr. Intel was the greatest teacher ever, and such. Melanie just watched stoically off to the side. She had a gut feeling that the Robot was not as brave as he made himself out to be. She glanced down at the little imp robot as he angrily stated,

"Stop crying and teach those kids how to admire Dr. Eggman!" Then when the other robot continued to make crying sounds, the Imp fell to the ground and said, "Now I'm crying!" Melanie rolled her eyes and walked over to the Imp. Picking him up by the back of his bag strap, Melanie said calmly,

"Nows not the time for crying, you delivered your message, so I suggest you leave." And with that she threw him into the air towards a tree. Making the Imp panic and frantically get his jetpack to work to avoid colliding with the tree.

After that, the class went back to playing their game of baseball until the bell rang to signal the end of the school day. Turning to Chris, who had been excitedly talking with his friends about his parents visit, Melanie said, "I have to go speak with the Principal for a few minutes. How about you grab your stuff and meet me at the car all right?" Chris nodded excitedly and turned back to help finish putting all the batting equipment away as Melanie started to make her way to go inside the school.

Fifteen minutes later, Melanie, with a smile on her face, because it was always nice to say hi to former teachers, arrived at her car. Expecting to see an impatient Chris waiting for her to start the car, she frowned when she noticed he wasn't there yet. Confused, Melanie looked around and noticed that she wasn't the only concerned guardian from Chris's class waiting for a student.

Spotting Danny's mother standing worriedly outside her car, Melanie walked over to her and asked, "Hi Mrs. Evans, how are you today?" Mrs. Evans turned and gave Melanie a halfhearted smile and replied,

"Hello dear, I am doing fine, but I'm worried about Danny. He is usually out of class by now." Turning to look at Melanie fully, she asked, "Melanie dear, you usually volunteer in your brother's class. Did something happen today to make them late?"

Melanie frowned and said thoughtfully, "Well a lot of interesting things happened today. Their teacher decided to end the day by playing a game of baseball. Maybe they are just finishing cleaning everything up from the game?" Mrs. Evans nodded at the younger woman's reasoning, but still did not look convinced. Sighing, Melanie gave a reassuring smile to the older woman and said, "I'll go check up on them and see what is taking so long. If I find that they are purposefully being late by lagging about doing something stupid, I will be personally leading both boys by the ears back to you." Mrs. Evan's couldn't help but chuckle at that statement, as Melanie turned and started making her way back to the baseball fields, which were on the other side of the school.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the Thorndyke residence, Melanie and Chris's parents arrived by helicopter to the house about a half hour before the final bell at Chris's school. Now they, along with Grandpa Chuck, were sitting and waiting for the children to get home from the school. Worry started to mount as an hour passed and there was still no sign of them.

Sitting back in his chair, Chuck thought out loud, "I wonder what's keeping them? Chris would be insistent on getting home to see you both." Their Mother, Lindsey Thorndyke, a beautiful sandy-blonde haired actress, turned to her father in law and asked worriedly, "What if there's been an accident and their hurt?" Nelson Thorndyke, a successful brunette haired, business man, turned to his wife and replied, "I'm sure my security people would find out and contact me. Besides, Melanie is a good driver, she wouldn't get into an accident easily."

Lindsey sighed and looking to the floor with a worried frown, she said, "Your right, they probably went to go do something together, and just have not noticed the time."

Outside the Living room window, Tails and Amy were watching their friends' family with mounting concern as well. And Sonic, who had been standing on the roof of the house thinking, finally couldn't take the waiting anymore, and zoomed off to find out what was taking Melanie and Chris so long to get home.

* * *

Back to Melanie, She had just made it to the border of the Baseball fields and stopped in shock at seeing Dr. Eggman himself standing in front of the group of kids, and the Robot looked terrified. Then Eggman seemed to say something to the Robot, and all of a sudden it's friendly persona was gone, replaced with something a lot more sinister.

She would have stayed hiding in the shadows, except the next moment, her brother Chris seemed to say something and appeared to be walking away from the group. Suddenly Mr. Intel grabbed Chris and lifted him into the air! At that point, all thoughts of secrecy left her, and Melanie sprinted towards the group yelling, "Take your robotic arms off of my brother!"

The whole group turned in surprise at seeing Melanie, and the robot even dropped Chris in his surprise. The moment Chris touched the ground, he raced over too his sister, followed by the rest of his class, and they all huddled behind Melanie who stood before them protectively.

"Ah! Miss Melanie it's you! I thought you left for the day?" Mr. Intel asked in both surprise and confusion. Melanie simply glared in disappointment at the Robot and replied, "No, as a matter of fact. I came back because there are a lot of worried parents waiting for these children. So I hope you both have a good afternoon and we will be leaving now."

Eggman started to laugh, making the children cower even closer to Melanie, and Melanie turned her anger filled sapphire eyes towards the evil man and asked icily, "Do pray tell, what you find so amusing Doctor?" Ignoring the twinge of fear that Melanie's icy tone gave him, Dr. Eggman simply smirked and replied, "Of course I find it amusing! It seems wherever your dear little brother is, you're there as well. Those Parents are simply going to have too wait because as of right now, all their children are in detention!"

To Melanie's credit, the only indication that showed she was irritated with the Doctor, was the slight furrowing of her eyebrows for a brief second. Then she stood straight and said calmly, "You can't keep children in detention if they have not done anything wrong, and you have no authority here. The Teachers and the Principal are the only one's with authority to keep these children at school."

Eggman simply raised his pointer finger on his right hand and waved it in a "tsking" motion. "They don't have authority anymore. Because these children will stay in detention until they can learn to love and respect me!" Melanie could feel most of the children, minus her brother, trembling in fright at the thought of how long they would remain in detention, because none of them were going to ever like or respect Eggman.

Suddenly, Eggman snapped his fingers and Melanie's peripheral vision caught movement from the robot. Having a feeling of what Eggman wanted the robot to do, Melanie waited till the last second, then just before the robot had a chance to grab her, she jumped up, pushed off the robot's shoulder, and flipped over the robot. The children all gasped in awe, while Eggman growled and muttered, "So you're going to play this game again are you?" Melanie smirked and replied, "I wasn't aware that we were playing a game. But if I'm winning, then all the more fun for me!"

Eggman growled in frustration again, as Melanie continued to expertly evade his robot, how that girl had the reflexes she did, no one would ever know. He glanced over to the brats who were excitedly cheering for Melanie, and suddenly he grinned with a vicious gleam in his glasses.

Melanie sadly admitted that she was enjoying herself maybe a little to much. She had not had to use her reflexes like this since her intense training with her friend Tommy back when she visited him in his old home town in California.

Her concentration was broken however, when she suddenly heard her brother shout in fright, "Melanie!" Spinning around in a defensive crouch, Melanie frowned in anger when she saw Eggman had her brother and Helen at knife point. Seeing he had her attention, he smirked and said, "Good, I have your attention. Now, if you surrender quietly, I won't harm them."

Not for the first time, Dr. Eggman reflected that, if looks could kill, he would be dead several times over. As it was, Melanie leveled the most lethal glare at the Doctor and spat at him, "There are several things I could call you right now. But due to there being sensitive ears, I'm just going to call you a very sick, sick man." As Melanie talked, she stiffly relaxed her stance and allowed the former teacher robot to firmly clasp one of his hands around her upper arm. A grip that, while not as tight as the first time she was captured, would ensure that she did no funny business.

Eggman's smile was all teeth, as he put the knife away and leisurely strolled away from the students to stand in front of the immobile young woman. "Now I would take that as a compliment because we both know you could call me far fouler things." Then leaning towards her, in a way that made Melanie want to flinch away, but she kept stock still, Eggman lowered his voice and asked,

"Now my dear, before we go on with the rest of the festivities this afternoon, there is an answer to a question I have been meaning to hear from you." Keeping her mask of icy anger showing, but inside Melanie started to feel uneasy, she asked in reply, "And what question would that be?"

Eggman locked his gaze with her's and said, "Why, have you already forgotten the proposal I gave you about a month ago?"

Melanie visibly blanched as her mind did recall the bizarre proposal that Eggman had offered her weeks ago.

* * *

 **Flashback** :

 _Eggman paused in his walk back to his craft and slowly turned around to regard the defiant young woman standing next to the pesky little boy. He regarded her up and down and said, "Well, well, well, still alive and kicking I see," Suddenly he gave the two of them a sinister grin, making Chris involuntarily take a step closer to his big sister as Eggman said, "Heh heh, you know, I might just consider handing the Emerald back… on a condition of course." Melanie narrowed her eyes suspiciously and placed a hand in front of her brother protectively as she asked, "And what condition is that?" Spreading his hands in a gesture of explanation, Eggman exclaimed, "I will give the Emerald back if you consider leaving that pesky Hedgehog's side and joining me to become Queen of the Eggman Empire!"_

 **End of Flashback**.

* * *

Doctor Eggman's chuckling brought Melanie back to the present to hear him say, "I see you still need time to think about it."

Before Melanie could respond, Eggman unfortunately turned his attention back to the children, who had been trying to sneak away to their parents while the evil Doctor had been distracted. Hollering at them, he forced them all to sit on the Baseball bleachers and, after Mr. Intel tied Melanie securely to the fields flagpole, he started handing out sketch books and stating, "For today's art class, we will sketch the illustrious figure of the great Dr. Eggman. As you draw, take special note of the Doctor's noble visage and divine bearing."

Melanie tried to suppress a snort of amusement as she watched the evil genius light up in excitement and start modeling for the students. Standing in different poses to help the children attempt to draw him better. Shaking her head, Melanie wondered how one person could be so bipolar. One moment Dr. Eggman seemed like a creative genius, next he acted like a sadistic madman, and now, now he was acting like a child himself.

As she watched Eggman and the robot get more distracted with their "Art Class," Melanie subtly tried to loosen the ropes that bound her wrists and ankles to the flagpole. Thankfully, what the Robot didn't know about the flagpole, but Melanie did, was that the flagpole had a sharp, jagged piece of metal sticking out slightly from the pulley system of the flags from a time when the pole got damaged in a wind storm. So slowly, so that she would not draw attention to herself, Melanie eased herself around the pole until she felt the piece of metal slightly snag against the ropes binding her arms behind her. Once she found it, she started to rub and create friction to cut the ropes against the sharp metal.

Several minutes later, ignoring the boring detention, Melanie finally freed her wrists from her rope binds and gingerly massaged the red rope burn marks around them from where she had had to constantly rub to get the friction she needed. Just before she could start on her feet, however, a sudden flash of blue caught her eye, and Melanie looked up just in time to see a blue streak heading straight for her!

All of a sudden, Melanie was no longer tied to the pole, heck she was no longer on the ground! In the blink of an eye she was now somehow on top of the flagpole, being held bridal style in Sonic the Hedgehog's arms?

All Melanie could do was blush crimson as everyone's attention turned to the two of them on the flagpole. Sonic simply smirked and said to the shocked evil genius, "I always knew you were a poser Eggman!"

Turning to Mr. Intel, the robot, Eggman ordered, "Get rid of Sonic." Mr. Intel saluted and stated, "Yes sir! Whatever you say!" And proceeded to shoot at least ten missiles towards Melanie and Sonic! Feeling Sonic's arms tighten around her, Melanie heard Sonic say, "Hold on tight Melanie." So Melanie wrapped her arms around Sonic's neck and held on for dear life as she felt him jump off the pole and flip through the air to avoid the missiles. How he managed to do that, while holding her at the same time, she would never know.

Suddenly she felt him touch the ground and set her down. Opening her eyes, because she hadn't realized she had closed them, Melanie focused on Sonic's reassuring emerald eyes as he smiled and stated, "Be right back!" And proceeded to run straight into the robot, destroying it instantly.

Once the threat of the robot was gone, all of the children abandoned the bleachers and rushed to Melanie all exclaiming different things at once like, "Are you okay?" "Who was that blue creature?" "That was so awesome!" "Can we go home now?"

Melanie smiled in relief, glad to see that the children seemed to be doing ok with the situation. They all turned and watched as Sonic exited the dust cloud, left behind from the explosion, to stand defiantly in front of Eggman with Melanie and the children behind him.

To the surprise of everyone, and slight suspicion of Sonic and Melanie, Eggman then said, "Here Sonic, your prize." Leveling him with a look, Sonic asked, "What prize?" Smiling in fake happiness, Eggman explained, "Some little rewards for your victory today!" He then tried to hand Sonic what was, in Melanie's opinion, the ugliest sticker ever.

Crossing his arms, Sonic stated, "I don't want a booby prize. What's the other prize?" Melanie felt a chill go down her spine as Eggman looked over Sonic and pierced her with a look as he darkly chuckled and said low enough that only Sonic and Melanie heard him, "I think you know what the other prize is already."

Sonic frowned at the cryptic answer, but then noticing where Eggman was looking, Sonic turned to briefly glance at a disheveled looking Melanie, before quickly turning back to Eggman and scowling in anger, he growled lowly so only Eggman could hear, "Get it through your thick skull now Egghead. Mel is not some prize or possession, she is a human being and a dear friend that I WILL protect at all costs."

Chuckling, Eggman asked, "Only a friend?" And before Sonic could say anything more, Eggman jumped into his hovercraft and was gone.

* * *

Sonic frowned in confusion of Eggman's parting words, but decided to ignore them for now as he turned to observe the two siblings who were hugging fiercely. As Sonic watched them, Melanie suddenly looked up, as if she sensed him watching, and gave him a warm smile. Sonic suddenly felt his face heat up and a weird feeling appeared in his gut making him look away and again ponder Eggman's words.

* * *

Once Melanie made sure that all the children made it safely to their parents, she and Chris hurried home quickly. Once they reached the driveway, Chris fairly leapt out of the car in his rush to see their parents. Melanie was a little slower so that she could fix her hair and make sure her denim jacket was hiding her rope burns so that her parents would not ask unwanted questions.

She walked behind her brother as he ran into the house calling, "Hey Mom and Dad! We're home!" Nelson and Lindsey Thorndyke hurried into the Entrance Hall and practically squeezed Chris into a group hug. For a moment Melanie watched her family with a small smile gracing her lips, before her Father noticed her and dragged her into the hug as well. And for once, Melanie laughed freely in front of her Parents because in that moment, they felt like an actual family again.

Soon it was time for dinner and the small family, including Grandpa Chuck headed to the dining room. As they walked, Chuck fell back to walk beside his granddaughter and quietly he asked, "What happened exactly to make you both late?" Continuing to look straight ahead, Melanie simply replied quietly, "Eggman. Tell you later." And with that they joined the other three at the table.

As dinner wore on, Chris and Melanie told the made up story, of why they were late, to their parents, explaining that Chris's friends and classmates got so excited that Melanie was back and volunteering again that the school insisted Melanie start her Martial Arts club early, so the two of them got stuck trying to teach fourth, fifth and sixth graders the basics of Karate.

And as they ate and laughed with their Parents, Melanie became quiet and a sad smile graced her face as she watched how happy her brother was. Especially when their mother announced that she would be staying the rest of the week. That smile unfortunately turned to a frown though, when Chris asked their Father if he was staying as well, and he sadly answered that he had to go back to work the following morning.

Setting her drink down on the table, Melanie asked, "Dad, you work none stop. Surely you have compiled a gazillion PTO hours to use?" Nelson Thorndyke gave his daughter an apologetic look and replied, "Unfortunately as the CEO of a huge Software company, there isn't any time to take time off. To many meetings and projects to oversee."

Feeling that she had suddenly lost her appetite, Melanie pushed her chair back, stood up and said as politely as she could, "I'm not very hungry anymore, I think I will retire for the night it's been a long day, goodnight." And with that she walked out of the room without a backward glance. If she had, she would have seen the hurt flash in both her Parents eyes, the confusion in her brother's, and the sympathetic understanding in her Grandfather's.


	6. Chapter 6: Of Parties and Flowers

**Chapter Six: Of Parties and Flowers**

 **Author's Note:** _Hi Everyone! Yes, I am alive. This may be my longest chapter for the story, and I still have more to add! Hopefully you will all enjoy it._

Melanie silently stormed into the Entrance Hall and paused on the first step of the stairs. She really didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment, and she had a feeling that Cream, Cheese and Amy were in her room getting ready for bed. So turning to the front door, she quietly opened the door and stepped outside into the fresh night air.

Taking a nice, deep breath, Melanie relaxed her tense muscles and, closing the door softly behind her, she started to leisurely stroll towards the tall oak tree that grew on their property. Reaching it, she took a running leap and grabbed onto the lowest hanging branch to pull herself into the tree. Then she started to climb till she felt she was high enough that no one would really notice her from the house, but still low enough that she could still safely climb down if she needed to.

Leaning her back against the trunk of the tree, Melanie's mind drifted back to the dinner conversation, then to the many conversations she similarly had like that with her parents and sighed sadly. Why, why couldn't they see how hard their absence was affecting their children? Wanting to just escape her conflicting thoughts for a few minutes, Melanie took out her iPhone and earbuds from her pocket and turned on her music. Setting her music to random play, Melanie closed her eyes and just lost herself to the sound of her music. Soon, one song came on, and Melanie, unable to help herself, started singing along with it. Her voice softly carrying the melody through the quiet night air.

As the song finished, Melanie paused her music, and opened her eyes to stare up at the stars, and pondered the words of the song. Suddenly a voice broke through the silence, "Pretty song." Melanie gasped and nearly lost her balance on the branch she was sitting on, as she frantically looked around to find who spoke.

Chuckling sounded from above her, and suddenly Sonic's blue spiky head appeared upside down looking at Melanie. "Calm down Mel, it's just me."

Putting a hand to her chest, Melanie gave a halfhearted glare and replied, "Darn you Sonic, you nearly caused me to fall!" Then as Sonic jumped down to the branch she was on, her eyes narrowed suspiciously and she asked, "Wait… How long have you been in the tree?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Sonic said, "I've been in the tree since we got back. I didn't know you could sing so well Mel."

Melanie looked away so that Sonic wouldn't be able to see her red cheeks at his compliment. Thankfully for her, it was dark and the moon was the only source of light this high up in the tree so the shadows hid it well. "Thanks Sonic, I used to do choir back in High school, but now I just sing for enjoyment."

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes after that, just enjoying the view of the night sky. Then turning to Melanie, Sonic finally asked the question that Melanie was hoping that he would not ask. "Mel, why are you out here? I mean, I like your company, but shouldn't you be with your family right now?"

Melanie sighed and leaned back against the trunk of the tree, thinking of how to answer. Finally she replied, "I love my parents, I really do. But sometimes they are so stupidly ignorant, it pains me to be related to them." She then proceeded to explain to Sonic the conversation that happened over dinner, with her Mom saying she was able to stay, but her dad stated that he had to go back to work. Sonic tilted his head in confusion and asked, "What's got you so upset though? You'll be able to spend time with your mother, isn't that enough?"

Shaking her head, Melanie answered, "You don't understand Sonic. My dad is the CEO of one of the most successful and thriving software companies in the world. He has things running so smoothly that no one would bat an eyelash if he took some time off. But, my dad has this workaholic persona that makes him think that he has to oversee everything or something is going to go wrong. He can't survive without being glued to his phone or his laptop. It ticks me off that he can't see that his FAMILY is more important than his job!"

At the end of her explanation, which turned more into a rant, Melanie shouted the last sentence, all her pent up anger with her parents resurfacing with a vengeance. Sonic just simply sat quietly until Melanie was done, and all she could do was breathe slow, deep breaths, to calm herself down.

Once she was calmed down somewhat, Melanie turned to Sonic, and in a brief moment of distraction, Sonic noted to himself that the moonlight seemed to reflect off of Mel's sapphire eyes, turning them into twinkling stars that had him mesmerized. His reverie was broken, when Melanie gave Sonic a soft smile and said, "Thank you Sonic. I didn't realize how much I needed to get that off my chest until now." Sonic smiled in reply and answered, "Anytime Mel."

The two fell into silence again and looked to the moon with smiles on their faces, each enjoying having the other for company. Finally, a question popped into Melanie's mind, and turning curious eyes to the blue hedgehog, she asked,

"Hey Sonic? I've been wondering about this since this afternoon, but how were you able to carry me earlier? I'm bigger than you, yet you carried me like I weighed nothing!" Sonic smirked at the question, secretly glad that she was impressed. Deciding to surprise her, and because he kind of wanted to do it again, Sonic used his quick reflexes and picked Melanie up the exact same way he held her earlier that day, before she could even register that he was doing it. "You mean how can I hold you like this?" He asked with his smirk still in place.

Melanie let out an undignified yelp, and instinctively wrapped her arms around Sonic's neck to help herself feel secure, while unconsciously causing Sonic's breath to catch a little in his throat at the sudden closeness.

Looking down at the ground warily, Melanie said, "Ok you made your point, your strong, must be how your able to smash those machines Eggman keeps attacking you with. Now, uh, can you put me back down now? Sonic?" When Melanie didn't get a response from Sonic right away, she turned to look at him, and suddenly the two were nose to nose. Now it was Melanie's turn for her breath to catch, and both emerald and sapphire eyes widened, and cheeks blazed with blush, as they simply stared into each other's depths.

As Sonic stared into Melanie's twinkling sapphire eyes, a gentle breeze blew through the tree, causing some of Mel's hair to wave across her face. In that moment, Sonic thought that he had never seen anything, or anyone else, so beautiful before. Suddenly, his brain brought forth Eggman's earlier parting words,

 **Flashback** :

 _Crossing his arms, Sonic stated,"I don't want a booby prize. What's the other prize?" Melanie felt a chill go down her spine as Eggman looked over Sonic and pierced her with a look as he darkly chuckled and said low enough that only Sonic and Melanie heard him, "I think you know what the other prize is already."_

 _Sonic frowned at the cryptic answer, but then noticing where Eggman was looking, Sonic turned to briefly glance at a disheveled looking Melanie, before quickly turning back to Eggman and scowling in anger, he growled lowly so only Eggman could hear, "Get it through your thick skull now Egghead. Mel is not some prize or possession, she is a human being and a dear friend that I WILL protect at all costs."_

 _Chuckling, Eggman asked, "Only a friend?" And before Sonic could say anything more, Eggman jumped into his hovercraft and was gone_.

 **End of Flashback**

Sonic's eyes blinked slowly a few times, as he now started to realize what Eggman meant. Before he could fully come to terms with this realization, Melanie nervously cleared her throat, and whispered, "Sonic, can you please put me down now?"

Melanie, for her part, was now looking down, hiding her once again blushing cheeks. She could feel her heart racing against her ribcage and wondered if Sonic could feel it as well. For a moment, she wondered if her request had fallen on deaf ears, and was about to repeat herself again, when he finally moved and gently set her once again sitting on the bark of the tree branch. As he sat her down, Melanie noticed that Sonic seemed to be deep in thought about something.

Once he had her settled, Sonic stood back up and, with his back facing Melanie as he looked out at the landscape, he said, "I'm going to head off to get some sleep now, will you be all right getting down on your own?" Melanie nodded her head, even though she knew he couldn't see it, and replied softly, "Yes, have a good night Sonic." She could see his head nod as well, then he jumped down out of the tree, leaving a very confused Melanie behind, wondering at what had just transpired between the two of them…

* * *

The next morning, Melanie slept in a little later than she normally would. After last night's events, it was hard for her to fall into a decent sleep. Her mind kept replaying over and over again that moment where she and Sonic had stared into each other's eyes, and she kept thinking that, had either of them been bold enough, they were close enough to kiss! Which then led her mind through another loop thought of wondering why she kept thinking that, because she and Sonic were just friends! Right?

Finally, at about one in the morning, Melanie finally had to internally admit to herself, that she had developed a crush on her blue, spiky male friend. And she had absolutely no idea what to do about it.

As the morning progressed, Melanie, being a light sleeper, sensed when both Amy and Cream woke up and left her room, both not wanting to disturb their friend. It was finally the smell of burning food, that caused Melanie to groan and sit up in bed. Automatically knowing that her Mom had somehow made it past Ella into the Kitchen.

A small, tired smile appeared on her face as she got dressed for the day. As much as she gets upset at her mom for being gone, she could honestly never stay upset for long, because, out of her two parents, she knew that her mom tried her hardest to be a mother to her and Chris, hence the burning food downstairs. Just before she left her room, the soft sound of humming reached her ears from her slightly opened window. Curious, she walked over to the window and could see Cream and Cheese happily at work gathering flowers, making her wonder, what are they doing?

* * *

Meanwhile, Tails, Amy and Sonic noticed Cream and Cheese outside as well from Grandpa Chuck's room. As they watched Cream, Tails asked out loud, "I wonder what she's doing out there?" Realization striking, Amy replied, "I bet Cream's out there gathering some flowers."

The mention of flowers, caused Sonic, who was previously ignoring his two friends, in favor of trying to get some more sleep, to open one eye and perked one ear to listen, even though his brain was still thinking of something else entirely.

Like Melanie, he kept replaying the night's encounter in his head, as well as Eggman's words, again, and came to the startling realization that he had somehow developed a crush on his human female friend. As he thought more about it during the night, he came to the conclusion that he had always had a crush on her, since the moment their eyes first met at the pool. But, Sonic frowned, he knew that there was a big, big, problem with him having a crush on Melanie. Unfortunately, he was not sure how long he could hide his feelings, from her or his other friends.

His thoughts once again came back to the present, when he heard Tails ask, "What's so important about going outside to pick flowers? Oh!" Here Tails eyes widened in realization, and he said sadly, "I guess she misses her mom."

Amy nodded in agreement, "Of course she does! I just wish, I wish there was something we could do to cheer her up."

Sonic listened to his friends talk and also wanted to help with cheering Cream up. A small part of him also thought that it would be a good distraction to get his mind off of a certain other female. So spying a picture of a hidden valley in the mountains filled with flowers, Sonic stared at it for a few moments, before making a decision. He jumped up, grabbed the picture, and zoomed down the stairs, barely hearing Amy calling out his name in confusion.

* * *

Back with Melanie, she had just entered the dining room to find her little brother looking resigned and surrounded by…blended up mush? And the smell of something burning hung heavily in the hair. Covering her nose and mouth with her hand, so as not to choke, Melanie asked her brother with a muffled voice, "I didn't know the food apocalypse was starting." Chris gave his sister a half hearted glare and mouthed, "Be nice," just as their mother came into the room carrying what looked like two plates stacked with, burned pancakes?

Quickly uncovering her mouth and nose, Melanie walked farther into the room as their mother happily exclaimed, "It's marvelous to be back in the kitchen again! On my movie sets, the chefs won't let me cook a thing!"

'Yeah, you don't say?' Melanie thought sarcastically, as she eyed the array of what was supposed to be food on the table cautiously.

Setting down the plates of what looked like pancakes, their mother said pleasantly, "Here are your buttermilk pancakes Chris dear, enjoy! And here is a plate for Melanie once she wakes up." Here Melanie had to smile, speaking up she said, "Thank you Mom." Lindsey Thorndyke's head snapped up to the doorway to see her eldest child standing there with a smile on her face. Breaking into a grin, she quickly walked over to Melanie and gave her a big hug exclaiming, "Good morning Melanie dear! I'm so glad you are awake. I made you and Chris breakfast this morning so don't be shy and eat up!"

Both Melanie and Chris exchanged smiles that looked more like grimaces, as they eyed what was supposed to be buttermilk pancakes. Chris even picked one up and it crumpled to dust in his grasp, making him sigh in hunger and resignation.

Before either sibling could say anything to their mother about her… interesting cooking, Ella came bursting into the room calling out in worry, "Oh my! Oh! I smell something burning!" She looked to Melanie for an explanation, and Melanie simply pointed towards her Mom, who had a closed eyed happy expression on her face as she stated, "Oh Ella, it's so good to be home again!" With her eyes closed, she didn't notice Ella sweatdrop as she looked at the food and the two resigned children. Suddenly Lindsey Thorndyke clapped her hands excitedly and said, "I have an idea! Let's have a big party!"

"A party?!" Chris and Melanie both exclaimed in surprise. "Yes, a dinner Party tonight, we can all dress up. I bet Ella can prepare something absolutely scrumptious." Chris and Melanie both broke out into grins. It wasn't every day you got to do a party for fun! "A party is a great idea!" Melanie said happily, already thinking of what dress she should wear. Suddenly Chris asked a question that got Melanie to grin even bigger as her little brother asked excitedly, "And do you think you could invite your brother Sam to come because he is my favorite Uncle?" Melanie added on, "You mean OUR favorite uncle little brother. But I agree, can you Mom?"

Lindsey smiled with a love-filled gaze to her two children, and enveloped both of them in a big hug as she replied, "Of course my darlings! Anything for my precious babies!" Both Thorndyke children giggled in happiness and hugged their Mom back. Ella stood to the side, watching the family with a happy expression. It was not often for someone to see them like this, and Ella wished she had a camera to capture the moment.

Deciding to speak up, Ella stated, "If we are having a party tonight, this calls for heavy duty cleaning! Time to clear some clutter!" With that she hurried off to start cleaning. Breaking away from the family hug, and feeling refreshed because of it. Melanie couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she turned to Chris and said, "It's almost time to head to school Chris! I'm taking you again today, so go hurry and get ready." As Chris ran off, Melanie noticed Cream and Cheese by the door. She smiled and gave them a thumbs up and the two sent beaming smiles back towards her.

Soon they were in Melanie's convertible and off to Chris's elementary school. The two siblings talked excitedly the entire time about the party, and being able to see their Uncle again. Chris was excited because he thought their Uncle Sam, who is a famous race car driver and leader of the S-Team, is amazing! And Melanie was excited to see their Uncle as well because he was the one that taught her how to drive and always loved to play strategy games with her, always stating that, to be a leader, you must hone your strategy skills.

Once they reached the school, Melanie bid Chris a good day and headed off to the Principal's office to have a word with him about letting stranger's teach his students. Basically, she was going to grill him for the events of yesterday afternoon. When she was done having a heart to heart with the Principal, who apologized profusely for endangering the lives of his students, Melanie headed back to her car to go home and help prepare for the party, never once realizing that there was someone watching her the whole time.

During school, Chris excitedly told his two best friends about what his mom was planning to do this evening. His friends were happy for him, since they knew that Chris missed spending time with his parents when they were gone. As they all talked about Chris's Uncle being invited to the party, they failed to realize that their new teacher, Mr. Stewart, was keenly listening to their conversation with a small smirk on his face.

The school hours ticked by, and Chris tried his best to wait patiently, but it was hard when he didn't know how long his mom would be staying for her vacation from work. Being an actress, she was always having to be sent to different places to do movie shoots, so he wanted to treasure the time he had now, especially because they were going to do a fun dinner party!

Once the final bell rang, Chris practically had to keep himself from flying from his seat, as he rushed to his locker to grab what he needed to go home for the day. As he finished putting the last of his books into his backpack and closing his locker, he suddenly heard Mr. Stewart call out, "Hey Chris!"

Turning around, Chris found Mr. Stewart standing behind him with a smile on his face. When his teacher saw he had Chris's attention, he continued by saying, "I haven't been teaching here long, but I just wanted to say thanks. I'm lucky to have so many intelligent and talented kids in my class." Chris just stared at his teacher in confusion and uttered, "Uhhh…" But before he could say more than that, Mr. Stewart was already talking again.

"You Kids are terrific and I want to know all of you better, so I'm coming to visit you and your family later today!" Chris's face froze in shock and a little bit of panic, but it was as if his teacher didn't even notice as he kept saying, "I can't wait to meet your Mom and get her autograph, and it will be nice to see your sister again." With that, Mr. Stewart walked away, and Chris just stood stock still. Having a hard time trying to think of a way for his teacher NOT to come to his house, what if he saw Sonic and the others?

* * *

Speaking of Sonic, he was currently in the middle of the mountains, staring at the picture he had taken from Chuck's room, still trying to locate the hidden valley of flowers. Knowing that if he found them, it would make Cream very happy. As he rolled up the paper and began running again, a little voice in the back of his mind, that he was trying his hardest to ignore, kept nagging at him, 'It would make Mel happy too.'

* * *

Meanwhile, Melanie made it back home and was helping Ella in the kitchen with cooking and setting up the dining room for the big dinner. As she did, she would occasionally notice Cream and Cheese trying to help decorate as well, smiling fondly, she went over and asked them to go collect more flowers so that they could put them into vases for decoration, which made Cream happy, and was a subtle way of keeping her out of Ella and her Mom's sight.

As the afternoon sun started to warm the windows of the house, everyone heard the front door open, and Chris call out, "Hey, I'm home!" Melanie and her Mom, who were both putting up a purple garland in the living room, paused and headed to the Entrance hall to greet the youngest member of their family.

Melanie watched fondly, as their Mom ran up and gave Chris a big hug saying, "Oh Chris darling your home!" As their Mom continued to hug him, Chris said, "I hope it's ok, but my teacher, Mr. Stewart's, coming over today to visit," Melanie tensed at hearing those words. She did not like the man, after what he tried to pull on her yesterday, and wanted as little interaction with him as possible. It didn't help when once Chris was released from their Mom's hug, he continued to say, "Sounds like he is a really big fan of your movies mom! And Mel, he seemed really eager to see you." Lindsey looked to her daughter with a raised eyebrow, and saw that Melanie seemed really tense, with a frown adorning her face as she stoically stated, "Splendid."

Deciding to ignore her daughter's odd behavior, Lindsey suddenly thought out loud, "That reminds me! What am I going to wear? I should have had the studio send over a gown." Relaxing slightly from her tense posture, Melanie smiled at her Mom and said, "I can help you pick one out Mom, I believe the red dress you have would be perfect." Lindsey smiled fondly at her daughter in gratitude. Soon all of their attention was pulled towards the sound of Grandpa Chuck's loud muttering as he tried for the umpteenth time, to readjust his tie collar. Both Melanie and Lindsey chuckled as Chris walked over to their Grandpa and started talking with him.

Suddenly, Melanie noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned to see Cream and Cheese hanging up paper chains on a light fixture. Shaking her head in amusement, Melanie turned to her mother and said, "Hey Mom, I think Ella is calling for you in the Kitchen, could you go see if she needs any help?" Lindsey smiled and replied, "I don't know if she will let me back in to her domain or not, but yes I will go make sure she is doing all right."

Once her Mom was out of sight, Melanie turned back to the living room to see Chris talking with Mr. Tanaka, and Cream and Cheese heading for the doorway. Smiling, Melanie walked over to the little rabbit and her Chao friend, and scooped them both up asking, "And what have you two little trouble makers been doing?" Cream and Cheese giggled and Cream replied, "We were just trying to help you all get ready for the party."

Taking her two little friends up the stairs, Melanie replied, "And we thank you for that Cream, but we don't want you to get in trouble for being discovered just yet. How about you two help me with picking an outfit for this evening?" Cream and Cheese immediately brightened at the suggestion and eagerly said that they would love to! So laughing, Melanie took the three of them to her room, completely unaware of the massive panic search that was going on downstairs to find Cream and Cheese.

Cream and Cheese were amazed at the amount of dresses that Melanie had and how big her closet was. At one point she asked innocently, "Melanie, why do you have so many dresses?" Melanie laughed and replied, "When you're the daughter of two wealthy and iconic individuals and have to sometimes attend events for them, you tend to collect things, clothing being one of them. Now, what color do you think I should do? Blue, purple, green, or black?" Before Cream could answer, they heard a knock on Melanie's bedroom door and then it opened slightly and they heard Chris call, "Mel? Are you here? Do you know where Cream and Cheese are?"

Melanie nodded for Cream to answer, so Cream skipped to the entrance of Melanie's walk-in closet and called back, "We're here Chris! Melanie is letting us help her pick a dress for tonight!" Melanie could hear the relief in her brother's voice as he replied, "Ok, good. Stay with her then, ok Cream?" Cream happily nodded her head and answered, "We will!"

* * *

Now, while this is all going on at the Thorndyke residence, you may be wondering how Sonic is doing on his hunt for the hidden valley. Well, after running up and down and around quite a few mountain ranges, Sonic had finally arrived at a new and interesting site. Before him lay a very worn, rickety, slightly broken, wooden plank rope bridge that was dangling over a very large gorge, that a waterfall was cascading into.

Whistling in awe of the sight, Sonic stated, "This is cool!" And was about to go zooming across the bridge, when an old, raspy voice stopped him, "So… It seems that after all these years, someone worthy has finally come once again." Blinking in confusion, Sonic turned and looked for the source of the voice. Finally the voice chuckled and stated, "I'm up here young man, or should I say creature? I daresay, I have not seen one of your kind in a long, long time."

Furrowing his brow, Sonic tilted his head up, and then promptly dropped his mouth open in shock. Sitting calmly in a tree close to the road that Sonic had just come from, was a beautiful bird with silver, blue, and magenta colored feathers that seemed to sparkle and shine if the sun touched them just right. This bird was staring at Sonic with golden-amber eyes that were filled with curiosity, and some sort of ancient wisdom.

The bird started chuckling in amusement at Sonic's gobsmacked look, asking, "So, it most certainly has been a long time, if you do not recognize what I am." Seeing the beautiful bird speak, snapped Sonic back into focus. And narrowing his eyes in suspicion he asked, "Who, or better yet, what, are you?"

The colorful bird stretched his wings and neck out slowly, looking as if it hadn't moved in a long time. "I am the guardian of this path, my name is Sozin. Some legends refer to me as a Phoenix." Then looking towards the bridge, it continued saying, "This path has not been travelled in a long time. Only those who are part of the world of the Fae, or blessed by the Fae, may see and walk this path." Turning to now look directly at a very confused Sonic, the ancient bird asked, "Tell me something, why do you seek the Fae Circle?"

Scratching the back of his head in confusion, Sonic held up the rolled up poster and said, "I don't know anything about Fae's or circles. I'm just trying to find this valley filled with flowers to bring some back to a friend of mine who loves making flower crowns and is feeling homesick." Sozin tilted his head to the side, and Sonic fidgeted a little under the Phoenix's intense scrutiny, "There is more to your explanation, but you seem hesitant to admit it to yourself. Why is that?"

Sonic's eyes widened in shock, and before he could stop himself he blurted out, "How did you…" Then he caught himself, shook his head as if to clear it, and glared at the bird, "That's none of your business you old bird." Sozin raised his wing and replied, "My apologies, it was not my place to pry. Now, if you wish to continue, just take this bridge, the Valley is on the other side of that ridge. Be warned, you may encounter one of the Fae when you arrive and I strongly advise that you show respect."

After Sonic acknowledged the Phoenix's warning, and zoomed away on the bridge, Sozin thought to himself out loud, "It certainly has been a long time since a creature of Mobius has walked the world of Earth. Normally that hedgehog would not have awoken me from my guardian slumber, since Mobian's no longer interact with our world of the Fairies… Could he perhaps, have come into contact with someone blessed by the Fae?"

* * *

Now, going back to the Thorndyke residence, Cream and Cheese helped Melanie pick out a lovely cerulean blue evening gown. It was sleeveless, with the straps of the dress coming to wrap around her neck to hold the dress up. It flowed elegantly down her body and showed off her figure, while still being modest. Melanie twirled a few times, making the skirt of the dress flare out a bit, and made Cream giggle. Smiling widely, Melanie turned to the little female bunny and exclaimed, "This is a beautiful choice Cream! I completely forgot that I had this gown." Then, going over to her vanity table, Melanie set to work in putting her hair up. After about fifteen minutes, she had her hair where there was one french braid wrapping around from the right side of her head, and tying into an elegant side bun on the left side of her head, just above her shoulder. She completed her look with some dangling silver earrings and two pairs of silver bracelets on each wrist. Standing up and turning to Cream she asked, "Well Cream how do I look? Think I'm ready for the party?"

Clapping her hands in excitement, Cream nodded her head enthusiastically and said, "Oh yes! You look so pretty, like a princess!" Melanie chuckled at Cream's enthusiasm and replied, "Thank you Cream. Now how about we go see if my Mother needs any help?" Cream nodded, and together, they left her room to walk down the hall to Melanie's Parents room.

As they reached the doorway, the two females could hear Melanie's mother on the phone with someone, "Actually I'm having a little party for my children tonight. I'm afraid I'll have to leave tomorrow." Cream watched as Melanie suddenly seemed to tense hearing those words. Looking up, she could see that Melanie was now frowning, and her face held an indescribable emotion. Soon they heard Lindsey Thorndyke say, "Oh, I didn't realize, we have to shoot on location first thing tomorrow morning…. I know, you can't put a hundred million dollar production on hold for a party, I'll leave immediately, goodbye."

Melanie and Cream watched as Lindsey hung up the phone and turned off the lamp on her desk. Melanie's frown slowly disappeared, as she watched her mother's face crumble into sadness as she started saying out loud, "Why does it always have to happen this way? I don't even have time to spend with my little boy and beautiful girl… I may be a great actress, but I'm a terrible mother! Please forgive me my children!"

With that Lindsey dissolved into crying into her hands. Cream and Cheese watched with sad expressions. While Melanie, Melanie slowly walked into the room. Standing before her crying mother, who did not notice her presence due to having her hands covering her face, Melanie felt tears of her own swimming in the corner of her eyes as finally, finally, after years of hurt and confusion, she understood. Her mother didn't mean to be gone, she loved Chris and her with all her heart, it was just her job that kept her from being the best mom that she could be.

So coming to a decision, Melanie stepped forward and enveloped her Mom into a hug. She felt her Mom gasp in surprise, but she continued her hug, whispering into her mom's ear, "I forgive you Mom." When Lindsey heard those words, fresh tears escaped and crying harder, she hugged her eldest child back fiercely. The two women ended up sitting down on the bed just crying together, expressing how much they loved each other, and just finally getting to understand each other for the first time in years.

Once the tears finally subsided and they were still just hugging each other in a loving embrace, Lindsey leaned back in the hug to get a good look at her daughter. Even though her daughter's hair was now a little in disarray from their embrace, and she had tear tracks on her face and puffy eyes from crying, Lindsey had to admit that her daughter was one beautiful young lady. Smiling, she said as much, "You know Melanie dear, I should have said this to you before, but I will say it now, I am very proud of the woman you have become. You are so beautiful, smart, and have such a kind heart. Don't let anyone tell you any different." Melanie blushed lightly at the praise, but couldn't help the big grin that spread across her face as her heart warmed and soared at her mother's praise.

Soon the two realized that they needed to get back to the real world. So Melanie helped her mother change and pack for her trip, calling Ella to call a cab for her mom to the airport. Then Lindsey helped fix her daughter's hair and change into a less fancy dress and more into a simple navy blue dress that went to her knees and had a lace neck top and lace quarter sleeves.

As the two Thorndyke females walked down to the car arm in arm, Lindsey turned to her daughter and asked, "Now dear, I'm sad that I won't be here for you and Chris, but could you please continue the party tonight for Chris's sake? I owe him that much since at least your Uncle Sam is coming tonight." Melanie nodded and replied, "Of course Mom, I will be the perfect hostess for our two guests." Lindsey nodded, then asked curiously, "By the way dear, why did you get so tense earlier when Chris mentioned his teacher coming over?" Melanie scowled at the question and replied, "Let's just say that that man rubs me the wrong way. I met him yesterday and he made the assumption that I was weak. Stupid, ignorant, sexist male, I'll show him who's weak." Lindsey laughed at her daughter's mutterings, "So basically he got into your bad graces? I'm not surprised, the only males you seem to tolerate are your three friends from high school, Chris, your father, and Mr. Tanaka."

The two continued to talk until they reached the car, as Ella put Mrs. Thorndyke's things into the car, Melanie hugged her mom one last time and said, "Safe travels mom. Call us when you can ok?" Lindsey nodded her head and replied, "Thank you dear, and please try and explain to Chris for me will you? I know that he is going to feel hurt. And please apologize to Mr. Stewart and your Uncle for me will you?" Melanie nodded, and with that Mrs. Thorndyke got into the car. Melanie watched the car until it was out of sight, with a sigh, she turned and headed back inside to mentally prepare herself for this evening.

* * *

As all the family drama was happening at the Thorndyke Residence, Sonic could be found still zooming along in the mountains, keeping his eyes open for the valley of flowers. As he searched, his mind couldn't help but think back on what that weird bird meant, about how there was a creature called a Fae in this world. He had heard folktales back in his world of powerful beings that were called the Fae and that according to the stories, they used to rule the people of Mobius before mysteriously disappearing. The other thing that unsettled Sonic, was the way that Phoenix was able to somehow sense his conflicting thoughts about Melanie.

Soon he reached a cliff edge, and paused to scan the surrounding landscape, and there! Nestled in exactly the same way the poster picture showed, was the Valley of flowers that Sonic was looking for! Jumping in excitement, Sonic zoomed down into the valley and stopped right at the edge of the circle of flowers. Bending down, he sniffed the beautiful aroma the flowers gave off, not even noticing that he was being watched, until a light airy, female voice began chuckling and stated, "Well, well, well, this is certainly a surprise."

Sonic sprung straight up in alarm and looked around for the source of the voice. But, he did not see anyone! Then another voice, this time a deep male one said, "Indeed my dear, no one has ventured to seek our home for a long time. He must be very valiant and pure of heart, to be able to make it this far."

Getting annoyed, Sonic continued to look around for the source of the voices and called out, "Stop hiding and show yourselves!" After he said that, he heard more laughter, this time sounding like a group of people. Suddenly, the pool in the center of the circle of flowers began to glow, and a beam of light shot out of it, heading straight for Sonic! Sonic shielded his face from the light with his arms, when the light faded, and he felt safe enough to lower his arms, he gasped in awe. Standing in a circle around the blue hedgehog, were eight beings that looked human, but Sonic had that instinctive feeling that they were not. For one, all of them had pointy ears, each had a different type of flower woven through their hair or clothes, and each seemed to have a different type of aura, almost magical. There were four males and four females. One of the males and one of the females both stood out the most to Sonic, because they both wore what looked like elegantly crafted metal crowns atop their heads.

As Sonic slowly got over the shock of their appearance, the male with a fine golden circlet crown on his head, nodded his head slightly in greeting and said in the same deep voice that spoke earlier, "Well met, Sonic the Hedgehog, of the world of Mobius."

Sonic's eyes narrowed, and he took a cautious step back, even though he knew he was surrounded, and asked, "Thanks, I guess, but how do you know about Mobius?" It was the female with the other golden circlet, who answered him stating, "We know many things. We are the Guardians of this world, and have been observing you and your friends ever since we first felt your presence arrive." The male then continued by gesturing to himself and the female, "I am Lord Aldon and this is my mate, Lady Sephira. And this is our Fae high court." At this announcement, the others all bowed slightly in greeting.

Sonic nodded his head cautiously back, and then looked to Lord Aldon and asked, "Ok, It's nice to meet you all, but why show yourselves to me?" Lord Aldon looked to his wife, who answered, "Because of you and your friend's presence on Earth, you have all brought with you another entity of power. I'm sure your familiar with it?" Sonic's eyes widened in realization as he stated out loud, "The Chaos Emeralds."

Lady Sephira nodded her head and replied, "Correct. For many decades, the Chaos Emeralds were kept safe in your world, controlled by the Master Emerald's power. Now, without the Master Emerald, the power of chaos is being left unchecked in the Emeralds. It may seem like nothing to the outside world, but the hidden world of the Fae, also known as the Guardian world, is being hurt by this wild power because there is no Guardian to watch over it."

Sonic raised an eyebrow in confusion and pointing to himself asked, "But what has that got to do with me? I know that we accidentally brought the emeralds here through an uncontrolled Chaos warp, but still…" He trailed off as Lord Aldon raised his hand and answered,"It's quite simple young Hedgehog, as rulers of the Fae realm, we have decided that it is time that the power of chaos have a Guardian."

Keeping his eyebrow raised, Sonic asked, "Oh really?" Ignoring the skepticism heard clearly in the hedgehog's voice, Lady Sephira held up an orb that glowed faintly, as the orb's light continued to brighten and form an image, she stated, "This is who we have decided will bear the power of chaos and will watch over it in this world, until it returns to your home world where it belongs." Once the image formed, Sonic's jaw dropped to the floor, and his eyes looked like they could pop out of his skull as he shouted out in shock, " **WHAT**!?" For in the image was the smiling face of… Melanie!

* * *

Melanie sneezed, twice, making her look around and wonder who was talking about her.

Shrugging her shoulders, she set about finishing the decorations, when she heard the doorbell ring. "Mr. Tanaka, could you get that?" Her Sensei and butler nodded his head and went to get the door, while Melanie over to the restroom to make sure she looked presentable.

As she finished adjusting her hair, she could hear the door open, and Mr. Stewart say, "I'm Chris's homeroom teacher, Mr. Stewart." She peeked around a corner of the entrance hall to see Mr. Tanaka greeting their first guest. Chris then came running from out of nowhere and excitedly said to his teacher, "Hi! Come in!" When she saw the guy genuinely smile at her little brother and ask how he was doing, she gave a small sigh. He couldn't be all that bad if he liked her little brother. Straightening her shoulders, Melanie walked into the Entrance Hall as Mr. Tanaka let their guest in. Smiling she opened her arms in welcome and said, "Hello! Welcome to our home."

Mr. Stewart's eyes widened and his jaw unintentionally went a little slack, as he beheld Chris's older sister. She was absolutely stunning with her hair done up and wearing a simple dark blue evening dress. The sound of the Butler's voice brought him back to reality, as he heard him say, "Mr. Stewart, may I introduce Chris's older sister, Miss Melanie Thorndyke." Mr. Stewart gave a small smile as he replied, "Yes, we have met before." Then holding out the lovely bouquet of red flowers he brought he said, "How do you do this fine evening Ms. Thorndyke? I brought you some flowers to show that I am truly sorry for the misunderstanding we had yesterday."

Melanie lightly blushed in embarrassment, as she took the offered flowers. Clearing her throat, she replied, "Yes, well, it's in the past. Let's start over as friends shall we?" She held out her hand for a handshake, but Mr. Stewart was a sly young man, and instead of shaking her hand, he took it and placed a kiss on the back of her hand!

Hurriedly, Melanie retracted her hand and quickly said, "Excuse me," And fast walked as quick as she could into the door that led to the mud room area. Throwing the flowers on the counter as if they burned her, Melanie had to pause and take slow deep breaths to calm herself down. Once calmed, she angrily thought to herself, 'Just what is that guy playing at!' Deciding to stay as far away from him as possible the rest of the evening, she headed back out to the Entrance Hall where Chris was excitedly pointing things out to his teacher. Forcing herself to not scowl at the man, she put on a polite smile and said, "Sorry to keep you waiting. Chris, why don't we take your guest to the sitting room, while we wait for Ella to let us know when dinner will be ready?"

Chris happily agreed and led the way into the sitting room. When they entered, Mr. Stewart noticed the lovely decorations and made a comment on it. Melanie nodded and replied, "Thank you, my mother and I worked together to set this up for everyone." Mr. Stewart smiled, "Well its great. I can't wait to meet your mother and give her my compliments."

Melanie smiled sadly, and giving a brief glance at Chris, she looked back to their guest and replied, "I'm very sorry Mr. Stewart, but just before you arrived, our mother was offered an important movie part and she had to leave right away to start filming." Melanie could feel her heart break a little bit as Chris looked at her and shouted out in shock, "Ah! No way!" She could clearly see the hurt and disappointment in his eyes.

Sensing that he was intruding on a private family matter, Mr. Stewart decided to change the subject by saying, "Well that's to bad, I was really looking forward to meeting her." With that, both Melanie and Mr. Stewart attempted to distract Chris from thoughts of Mrs. Thorndyke by talking about his classes, school, the Martial Arts Club that Melanie helped to run and other mundane topics. Just as Ella was bringing in a tray of tea and pastries, a sudden loud crash caused everyone to jump up from where they were sitting, completely startled, Ella exclaimed, "What was that?"

Both Ella and Melanie walked over to the window, not even noticing when Mr. Stewart wandered to the other side of the room and secretly slid out a small recording device. When the two females reached the window, Melanie had to take a step back from the window and face-palm as she sighed in exasperation. Her Grandfather was making a scene again. She watched through her fingers as Ella quietly scolded her Grandpa and told him that Chris's teacher had arrived. And so in Grandpa Chuck style, he decided to climb through the window to greet their guest…

The rest of the afternoon pretty much spiraled down into a chaotic mess from there. Melanie had unfortunately forgotten that Cream and Cheese were still roaming the house, which led to a lot of half truths and confusion from Chris and their Grandpa, and Mr. Stewart acting suspicious. It didn't help that when their uncle arrived later, the only thing he could talk about was how Sonic beat him in the road race the two had. So all in all the dinner could have been a better one. But at least in the end, Melanie got them talking about some other topics that did not involve strange creatures and odd noises.

After dinner, both of their guests decided it was time to go. As Chris and Mr. Tanaka bid Mr. Stewart goodbye, Melanie pulled her Uncle Sam aside and gave him a tight hug. Burrowing her face into his shoulder, Melanie murmured softly, "Thanking you for coming tonight Uncle. It means a lot, to both me and Chris." Sam smiled and hugged his niece back as he softly replied, "Anything for my favorite family members." They broke apart from the hug and smiled at each other, then Sam went to go say goodbye to his little nephew, and Melanie was left feeling uneasy as Mr. Stewart approached her. Clasping her hands firmly behind her back, she stated, "Mr. Stewart, I hope your time with us was not to horrible?" Mr. Stewart chuckled and pushed his glasses up his nose as he replied, "Well I have to say you do have a lively family. I'm sad that I did not have the chance to meet your parents. Perhaps some other time?" Then he held out his hand once more in the sign of wanting to shake her hand. But not one to be caught off guard again, Melanie simply kept her hands clasped behind her back and nodded her head politely, "Indeed. Good evening Mr. Stewart," Mr. Stewart awkwardly moved his hand away to rub the back of his neck slightly in embarrassment and he cleared his throat and said, "ah, yes, well, good evening to you as well, Ms. Thorndyke."

Once both Mr. Stewart, and Sam the leader of the S-Team left, Grandpa Chuck, Mr. Tanaka, Chris and Melanie all walked back into the sitting room to see Ella looking very upset and stressed over all the strange things that had seemed to happen during the afternoon. Mr. Tanaka looked to Chris and mentioned, "Master Chris, would it not be wise to let Ella in as well on your little secret?" Melanie smiled in agreement while Chuck said, "He's right. Things would be a lot easier around here if she were in on it too." Chris nodded his head in agreement and said, "Yes I agree." With that, the three males walked over to speak with Ella.

Melanie, though, stayed back. She had a gut feeling that she was needed elsewhere. During the chaos that happened in the afternoon, she noticed that Sonic had returned from wherever he had been all day. Hence he was the one to start the ruckus by waving a huge bouquet of flowers for Cream to see. She had noticed that when Sonic caught sight of her, his eyes had seemed to widen for a moment, before he oddly looked away from her, with a frown, and zoomed away. It made Melanie concerned, because, normally, Sonic would wink, or do his signature smirk with a thumbs up.

Sighing, Melanie backed out of the room where Chris was excitedly introducing Ella to Amy, Tails, Cream and Cheese, and headed up the stairs to her room. When she reached her room, she walked in, and closed the door, not even bothering to turn the lights on yet. As she walked past her bed, the moonlight's rays shone through her room, causing her peripheral vision to catch notice of something.

Turning to look at her bed, Melanie gasped, hands flying to her mouth as her eyes widened. For sitting on her pillow, was a beautifully crafted flower crown made of blue and white carnation flowers, and sitting nestled inside the pretty flower arrangement, was a note! Walking slowly over to the note, Melanie had to force herself to pry one of her hands away from her mouth, to pick up the note. Looking at the note it read: _Meet me under the Oak tree we talked in the previous night, tonight. We have a LOT to talk about…_

'Well', Melanie thought, 'I wonder what could be so important that he has to send me a flower crown?'


	7. Chapter 7: Chaotic Intentions

**Chapter Seven: Chaotic Intentions**

Before Melanie followed the notes instructions, she wanted to make sure that Chris was ok. She had seen through the whole dinner that though he was trying to make an effort to be cheerful, his heart was just not in it. She could understand why though, to find out so suddenly that your mom just upped and left before a party, that she herself had planned, started without telling him?

The look of hurt and sadness in her little brother's eyes pulled at Melanie's heartstrings, so she resolved to make sure he was ok before seeing Sonic. The Hedgehog could wait.

Changing into a blue t-shirt and dark blue sweatpants, and pulling her hair into a simple, if slightly messy, low bun, Melanie then walked over to Chris's room, and was a little surprised to find the door open with the light still on. Peeking her head in, she was surprised to find Sonic in the room asking Chris, "What's wrong? Why are you sad?" Chris sadly replied, "I didn't mean it when I complained about my mom missing the party! But Cream got really angry. I didn't even think about how bad she misses her mother. I just hope she doesn't stay mad at me."

Melanie felt a small smile tug at her lips as she watched Sonic try and cheer her little brother up by giving his signature wink and stating, "Don't worry it'll be ok." Melanie then heard the distinctive sound of Cream approaching, so stepping to the side, she allowed the little bunny Mobian to rush past her, and into Chris's room, with three flower crowns in her hands. Deciding to step into the room while the other's attention was distracted, Melanie watched as Cream happily exclaimed, "Hello Chris! I made this specially for you! Do you want to put it on?" Chris bent down for Cream to place the flower crown on his head. Surprised he replied, "Oh, um, thank you Cream."

Smiling happily she stated, "Now you can wear it to school and tell all your friends that I made it for you! Now I'm going to go give Ella and Melanie their flowers!" Turning around, she spotted Melanie standing off to the side and, smile widening, hurried over to her and said happily, "Here Melanie, I made this pretty flower crown for you!" Smiling down at the little bunny, Melanie crouched down to be more eye level and replied, "How sweet of you Cream, thank you!"

She then bent her head down so that Cream could place the crown of daisies on top of her head. Once Cream accomplished that she asked Melanie, "Do you like it?" Melanie glanced in her brother's closet door mirror and smiled at the sight of the daisy crown. Bending down to be level with her little friend, she hugged the little rabbit and replied, "I love it, thank you again Cream!" Cream giggled happily, and then when Melanie released her, she skipped out of the room humming a happy little tune as she went to find Ella.

Melanie fondly watched Cream leave, and started in surprise when she heard Sonic start positively saying to Chris, "Way to go buddy! Cream will only give her flower crowns to the people she really likes a lot, like you and Mel." Melanie turned to see Chris's face brighten at Sonic's words as he asked hopefully, "Really, you think she likes me?" In reply, Sonic gave Chris his signature thumbs up and wink as he replied, "You bet!"

Melanie chuckled at their exchange, drawing both males attention to her, both blinked in surprise having forgotten that she was still in the room. Sonic immediately put his hands behind his head and turned to look out the window, so that both siblings would not be able to see the sign of a blush creeping up his cheeks.

Melanie simply ignored Sonic for now, and looking at Chris she said, "All right Chris, its time to get ready for bed." Chris gave her a pout and started to protest, "But Mel…" Melanie held up a hand to forestall anymore complaining, and stated, "I don't want to hear it. You have school tomorrow and I don't want you falling asleep in class." Then seeing that her brother still was going to argue about wanting to stay up with Sonic and the others, she sighed and compromised, "Ok, how about you get ready for bed, and I will sing you one of Mother's lullabies. That sound fair to you?"

Immediately Chris stopped all protests and stared at his sister in excitement, "Really! You haven't sung to me in ages! Can you sing my favorite song?" Melanie chuckled as she walked over and ruffled her brother's hair affectionately, "Only if you start getting ready for bed now squirt." So with that, Chris raced off to prepare for bed, Melanie once again sighed and turned to face the blue hedgehog, who had stayed to watch the siblings interact with a look of interest. When he saw Melanie looking at him, he asked, "What song was Chris talking about Mel?"

Walking over to stand next to Sonic by the window, Melanie looked out at the night sky with a nostalgic smile and replied, "When we were younger, our mother was given more time off to be with us. Every night when tucking the two of us into bed, she would sing us a song that our Grandmother taught her. Our Grandmother was a very Irish woman and loved to sing. Our family's favorite lullaby that she taught us, is the one that Chris was referring to." Turning to look at the curious Hedgehog, she smiled and said, "You can stay and listen if you would like." Sonic nodded his head, showing that he would like too.

Soon they heard Chris jump onto the bed and called out that he was ready. Walking over and sitting on the side of the bed to help tuck Chris in, Melanie couldn't help but chuckle as she asked, "You sure your ready for bed? You look more like your ready to bounce all around the room!" Chris naturally stuck his tongue out at his older sister, but obediently started to settle down into his pillows.

Once he was all situated, he turned expectant eyes to Melanie, who smiled and, closing her eyes, she began to sing the beginning of the song;

" _Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby, back to the years of loo-li-lai-lay. And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow Bless you with love for the road that you go_ …"

As Melanie sang, she did not realize that Tails and Amy, who had both been looking for Sonic, paused in the doorway when they heard Melanie's voice. Curious, both quietly entered the room to find Chris in bed relaxed, Melanie sitting on the side of the bed humming and getting ready for the next verse, and Sonic sitting comfortably against the wall with his hands behind his head and eyes closed as he also listened to Melanie's voice. Glancing at each other, the two decided to walk into the room as well, as Melanie began the second verse;

" _May you sail far to the far fields of fortune, with diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet. And may you need never to banish misfortune, may you find kindness in all that you meet… May there always be angels to watch over you, to guide you each step of the way. To guard you and keep you safe from all harm. Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay_ …"

Soon, Mr. Tanaka, Ella, Cream, Cheese, and Chuck all came looking for the others as well, when they did not return with Sonic. Soon they were all standing in the doorway, and watching as Melanie sang now not just for Chris, but for everyone in the room as they became captivated by her voice;

" _May you bring love, and may you bring happiness. Be loved in return, to the end of your days. Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you. I'll just sit for a while, and sing loo-li, lai-lay… May there always be angels, to watch over you. To guide you each step of the way. To guard you, and keep you, safe from all harm, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay. Loo-li, loo-li, Lai-lay… Loo-li, loo-li, lai lay…_ "

As she finished, Melanie could sense with her eyes closed that she, Sonic and Chris, were not alone anymore. Slowly opening her eyes, she blinked in surprise when she found that everyone was in the room. They were all looking at her with looks of awe on their faces, and Melanie found herself blushing shyly in embarrassment.

Turning to look at Chris, she could see that her song had worked in putting him into a peaceful sleep. Gesturing for everyone to be quiet, she led everyone out of her brother's room and down to the living room. Once there, Tails broke the silence, "Wow Melanie, I didn't know you could sing like that, that was beautiful!" Amy and Cream nodded in agreement, while Sonic just stayed silent with a small smile on his face.

Before Melanie could reply, an aged chuckle sounded throughout the room. Sonic tensed, while the others blinked in wariness and confusion as a voice, filled with wisdom, stated, "To be expected from one who will harness the power of Chaos. They must also have a balance and affinity too Harmony as well."

Melanie looked in confusion to Sonic but saw that he was glaring at the window behind her and the others. So slowly, the group turned around and gasped in shock. Sitting on the sill was the most beautiful bird any of them had ever seen! It's golden-amber colored eyes were currently watching Melanie with an intensity that made Melanie slightly uncomfortable. "Why are you here?" Sonic snapped at the bird grumpily with his arms crossed. At this the bird tilted its head and answered, "Simple. The Court suspected you may need some help explaining the situation, so they sent me."

Trying to process what was happening, Melanie turned to Sonic in confusion and asked, "Sonic? What is he talking about? And how do you know this bird?" Shaking his feathers a bit, as if it were miffed, the male bird stated, "I am not just a 'bird' milady, I am a Phoenix." Ignoring the bird, Sonic sighed and, seeing how everyone was staring at him, replied, "Ok, here's what happened. You know how I brought all those flowers back for Cream?" At everyone's nod, he continued, "Well, turns out that there are special beings on this earth as well. They called themselves the 'Fae' or something like that."

At this, Grandpa Chuck's eyes widened in shock, and grabbing Sonic excitedly by the shoulders he exclaimed, "You actually found the Fairy Court?!" Sonic, being shaken like crazy by Chuck, was unable to answer, so the Phoenix did for him, "Yes good sir, he did indeed. I'm assuming from your excitement that you are Charles Thorndyke?" Chuck stopped shaking Sonic and turned to face the Phoenix with a nostalgic smile. "Yes, that is me, though I prefer to be called Chuck." The Phoenix nodded his head, but said no more.

Sonic, now that he was no longer being shaken to death, cleared his throat and said, "Yes, well, I found that valley of flowers that was on that poster that Chuck had up in his room. When I arrived I was greeted by these 'Fae' and they told me that our arrival into this world has upset the balance of nature. That chaos energy is currently being uncontrolled. So they have decided to choose a 'Guardian of Chaos.'" Everyone stared at Sonic with wide eyes, stunned. But the shock only grew, when the Phoenix then stated, "The high Fae Court have selected you, Melanie Thorndyke, to be Earth's new Guardian of Chaos."

"WHAT!" Melanie shrieked. The Phoenix simply nodded his head in answer. Whipping around to look at a now very uncomfortable looking Sonic, Melanie demanded, "That's what you wanted to tell me, isn't it?" All Sonic could do under Melanie's intense glare was a small nod. Hearing a flapping sound, everyone once again turned to look at the Phoenix that had now risen into the air. Seeing it had everyone's attention, it stated, "Lady Melanie, please calm yourself." Melanie simply turned her glare to the bird and then, with a huff, she stormed out of the room. Landing once again on the window sill, the Phoenix simply sighed and stated, "Well, that went better than it could have gone."

Sonic simply glared at the bird that had now seemed to ruin his budding friendship with the girl, while the others still stared at the bird in shock. Finally, Grandpa Chuck shook himself out of his daze and giving the mighty bird a serious look, he asked, "Now, with my granddaughter being selected to be this, Chaos Guardian, it won't put her in any serious danger, will it?" The Phoenix looked to the elder man in the room, and when their eyes made contact, Chuck could see the depth of wisdom and age that this bird possessed. For a moment the Phoenix stayed silent, thoughtfully thinking of his answer, finally he answered, "It is hard to say. The best answer I can give is that it depends on how she ends up deciding to use the powers gifted to her."

With that, he once again took to the air. Nodding his head to everyone, he then stated, "I must depart for now, have a good evening and may the Fae forever watch over you all." And with that he was gone! Leaving the rest of the group to stand in silence for a few minutes before unanimously deciding to all head to bed.

* * *

For the next week, Melanie was seen by no one. She isolated herself away in her room, forcing Cream and Amy to have to sleep with Ella. The discovery that she now was a being with magical powers was pretty shocking but fascinating and she came to terms with that in only a few days. What really made her stay isolated, though, was that she did not want to face Sonic.

The stupid male hurt her feelings bad with that message he left for her, only for it to not be a romantic gesture, but just a way to get her outside to talk to her. Needless to say, being a hopeless romantic, and unfortunately coming to terms that she was indeed slowly falling for the Mobian hedgehog, she was not sure how to pull herself together to properly talk to him again.

But, after a week, she realized that she was being irrational and needed to go back to her normal routine. Even with her feelings hurt, and somehow having some sort of secret power, she needed to just move on. So Sunday morning, Melanie got up and dressed in her normal outfit of a quarter-sleeved shirt, Capri pants, and slip on sandals, with her hair back in a braid, and headed quietly downstairs to see what the rest of the house was up to.

She was just in time to watch Tails go flying into the living room TV, courtesy of Miss Amy Rose. "Did I come down at a bad time?" She asked out loud. Her question caused everyone's heads to whip around in her direction and blink in surprise. Then Cream and Chris's faces lit up and both cried out, "Melanie!" She was then successfully squeezed in two tight hugs, one around her middle and another around her legs.

"Can't…Breathe!" She huffed out, and thankfully, the two let go of her. Soon everyone was around the Thorndyke girl, happy to see that she was not isolating herself anymore. "How are you feeling Mel?" Tails asked in genuine curiosity and concern. Giving the Mobian Fox a small smile of gratitude, Melanie replied, "I'm doing fine Tails, thank you for asking."

Then turning her attention to the TV, Melanie smirked and said, "Wow Tails, nice job with the television." Everyone then turned their heads to see that the TV screen was now just all static. Tail's ears drooped as Cream looked at him sadly and whimpered, "Tails, you broke our TV, and that was our favorite program." Rubbing the back of his head, Tails replied, "I'm sorry…" Trying to cheer the little bunny up, Chris grabbed a nearby remote and said, "Don't worry Cream, maybe this will help!" He tried pressing a few buttons, but sadly nothing seemed to help.

Cream and Cheese began crying, sad that they could no longer watch their favorite program. Feeling compassion for the little bunny, Melanie knelt on the ground and wrapped the little bunny into a hug. Cream immediately latched herself to Melanie and started crying into the older girl's shoulder.

So caught up was Melanie in comforting the little Mobian, that she did not notice when Sonic entered the room through the window, until he asked, "Hey, what's going on?" Looking up, from comforting Cream, Melanie coincidently made eye contact with the blue Hedgehog.

Both of their eyes blinked in surprise at seeing each other. Suddenly Melanie could see a look of deep apology shining in the depths of Sonic's emerald eyes as he silently asked for forgiveness, to which, hesitantly, Melanie gave the slightest of nods, to indicate that he was, somewhat, forgiven. Just as quickly as it happened, their eye contact broke when Sonic turned his gaze to Chris, as he explained the situation to Sonic. Melanie simply closed her eyes and silently sighed, as she continued to rub soothing circles with her hand on Cream's back. Unaware that a pair of topaz eyes were currently burning holes of jealousy into her back.

Everyone's attention soon snapped to the window, when suddenly they heard the unfortunately familiar sound of Dr. Eggman's messenger, Bokun, he was doing his signature cackling as he flew in through the window. Immediately, everyone scattered to hide and protect themselves from whatever crazy explosion the little robot had planned up his sleeve.

Looking around, the little robot gave Sonic and Chris, the two closest to him behind the couch, a deadpan look and stated, "That was a disappointing welcome if you ask me." He then dug into his bag, and pulled out a mini TV, and continued saying, "Got a brand new message for Sonic from Dr. Eggman, so listen up good!"

The mini TV then flicked on, and Melanie couldn't help but find herself grimacing at the ugliness that was the evil genius. "Greetings my little warthog and company! Sorry it's been so long since my last message, but I've been such a busy little bee. Take a look!" With that the screen flickered from Eggman, to what looked like a weird looking green robot floating in space, and it looked like it was sucking up… "That thing is swallowing up satellites!" Chris yelled out, sharing a shocked look with Sonic.

Before they could all say more, the screen switched back to Eggman as he continued his monologue/threat, "Don't get any ideas Sonic, after all I'm only having a little fun! Stay out of it if you know what's good for you and your… precious friend's, Ho ho ho!" Sonic's grip on the couch tightened slightly at the obvious implication, while Melanie felt the blood drain slightly from her face, as she also caught the hidden meaning. The others did not seem to notice though, as Eggman's message continued as if nothing had happened.

"As we speak my E90 is floating above the stratosphere, collecting all manner of space junk so that I can make more and more of my mechanical friends! What do you say to that! Ha, ha, ha, pretty soon you will be obsolete Bokun!" The little messenger robot looked dejected at that sentence, and for a moment, Melanie felt a little bit of pity for the guy.

But she felt herself stiffen, as suddenly Eggman's image gave a wicked grin, as he said, "Before this message ends, I have one more little message to give to a one Miss Melanie Thorndyke." Here, everyone's attention snapped to the screen on full alert especially when they noticed Sonic's narrowed, angry emerald gaze, and the way Melanie's face seemed to lack some color.

Chucking, the message Eggman stated, "I know that you still remember my proposal to you those few months ago, and let me be clear Miss Thorndyke, I have not had a chance to get a response from you, so the next time we meet, I want an answer, and to make things even more clear for you, saying yes would be in your better interests, Ho, ho, ho, Ha!" With that, the message ended, and the only sounds in the room was the static television and Bokun's crying.

Everyone else was staring stunned at Melanie who was now completely pale, shaking, and had fallen to her knees on the floor. Seeing their young mistress in so much distress, Ella and Mr. Tanaka both went over to try and comfort the poor girl, while Chris turned to Tails, and desperately trying to change the subject, asked, "What's E90?"

Tails simply shrugged his shoulders and responded, "I don't know Chris, but I bet it's one of Dr. Eggman's robots." Then looking thoughtful, he asked, "I wonder what a stratosphere is?" As Grandpa Chuck burst into the room and excitedly started explaining about the stratosphere to everyone that didn't know, Ella quietly asked a still shocked Melanie, "Melanie dear, what is wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost?" Melanie simply shook her head numbly.

Amy, noticing this, put her hands on her waist and stated loudly enough to catch everyone's attention, "While stopping Eggman is good and everything, before we all leap into action, I want to know first, what his weird message to Melanie meant." That made both Sonic and Tails, who were both about to head out to the Tornado Airplane, pause and turn to look towards the elder Thorndyke sibling.

Melanie, for her part, had her head down, not making eye contact with anyone, as she thought over Eggman's message to her. Basically he was threatening to harm her friends and family if she did not comply to his proposal! Looking up, she suddenly realized that everyone was still waiting for her to explain. So looking directly at her brother, Melanie asked, "Chris, do you remember when we found the first chaos emerald?"

Cautiously, Chris nodded his head and Melanie took a deep, shaky breath, before asking, "Do you remember what Eggman said to me after I stepped in when he stole the emerald from you?" Chris's face scrunched up in thought for a moment, trying to remember. Then suddenly his eyes widened and his face blanched as he weakly said, "Oh, I think I'm going to be sick. That's the proposal he is asking you about? I thought he was just bluffing that day!"

Now everyone else was looking in confusion between the two siblings as Melanie sadly shook her head no and quietly replied, "No Chris, sadly, he meant every word." An awkward silence then fell over the group, and finally having enough of the suspense, Sonic began rapidly tapping his foot and stated, "Hate to break up the sibling staring contest, but some of us need to be somewhere, so could you hurry up and share what has both of you so uneasy?" Both Thorndyke siblings sent the blue hedgehog identical glares, Melanie's a little more fiercely than Chris's.

But then looking around at everyone, Melanie straightened up from her crouched position on the floor and calmly stated, "Eggman wants me to marry him and become his Queen of the Eggman Empire. In this latest message, he has just threatened to bring harm to all of you if I do not agree to do so." Everyone gasped in absolute shock, and Sonic felt as if someone had just punched him, really, really hard in the gut.

Sapphire eyes then hardening in determined resolve, Melanie turned her hard gaze to a stunned looking Bokun and stated, "Bokun, bring this message back to your creator. Tell him, that I have made my decision and that no matter how much he threatens or blackmails me, there is no way in all the universes that I would EVER agree to marry such a despicable, ugly, and a few other choice words that I can't mention due to delicate ears in the room, man."

Intimidated a little bit by the fierce looking young woman, Bokun simply silently nodded in fright and took off, hoping to get as far away from the scary looking girl as possible. After that, Sonic and Tails ran to the Tornado airplane and took off to try and stop Eggman's latest robot creation. Chuck, Amy and Chris, followed after them to watch them leave, while Cream and Cheese went with Ella to prepare some snacks for their return.

Turning to look at Mr. Tanaka, Melanie asked, "Would you mind being my sparring partner? I need to do something to get rid of this pent up energy." Mr. Tanaka nodded, and together, they went out back to their outdoor sparring ring. The two sparred fiercely with each other for over two hours, using several different styles of martial arts. They ended up stopping when they heard Cream call them in for dinner. Walking in, the two found to their surprise that Sonic and Tails had returned, except both looked very pensive for some reason.

Dinner was a very quiet affair, and the moment it was finished, Sonic escaped to the roof, while Amy, Cream and Cheese, and Ella headed to the kitchen, and Chris, Grandpa Chuck and Tails went back to the garage. Looking a little undecided, Melanie finally decided to follow her family to the garage. She found the three standing around the little blue airplane, and walked over just as Grandpa Chuck stated, "It appears our foe is more powerful than we thought." Looking confused at Tail's dejected expression, Melanie looked to Chris for an explanation, but he simply shook his head in a 'not now' gesture. They all turned to the opening of the garage, when they suddenly heard Sonic call out, "Hey Tails!" Sonic had jumped down from the roof and walked in towards the others. Looking to Tails he stated, "Problem is the Tornado is to slow. So, what you outta do is suit this birdie up a little bit." The three humans blinked in understanding, and Tails shrugged and replied, "I could try…" Then suddenly turning around to Chris, he suggested, "Maybe I could use the Chaos Emerald! Oh, I mean, if that is ok with you Mel?"

Blinking in surprise, Melanie pointed to herself and asked, "Why are you asking me?" Fidgeting with his fingers, a nervous habit of the Fox's, he replied, "Well, you know, you're technically in charge of the Emeralds with being their Guardian… So I thought it best to ask your permission to use it?" Eyes widening in understanding, Melanie then looked to the twin-tailed Fox with a smile and replied, "I don't mind at all Tails. If it helps us defeat our enemy, then I am all for it." Tails returned the smile, but then it morphed into a thoughtful frown as he said out loud, "There may be a problem though…"

The three humans looked at him in confusion, so he elaborated, "It's all that energy. The Chaos Emeralds have huge amounts of energy, it would only take a tiny bit to run the Tornado so all of that extra energy would have nowhere to go, and that could be a real big problem." Looking to their Grandpa, Chris asked, "What do you think Grandpa?" Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Chuck thought out loud, "We need to find a way to burn off the Emeralds excess energy." Melanie, Sonic and Tails frowned at that, and Tails stated, "I wouldn't want to just waste it."

They soon got to talking about maybe installing a back up engine to the Tornado. As they talked, Melanie found herself lost in thought. Suddenly she looked up and blurted out, "That won't be enough." All the male's heads turned to look at her in confusion and frowning thoughtfully she continued, "A backup engine is still a good idea, but unfortunately, I just have this…feeling that it still won't be enough to contain all of the energy the Emerald has." She trailed off, lost in thought again, then suddenly she snapped her head up and said, "But I think I may be able to help with that."

Tails eyes widened in understanding, and then he grinned in excitement. Soon, he and Grandpa Chuck headed down to the Thorndyke Elder's secret laboratory, while Chris went off to go finish his homework for the upcoming week. All that remained in the garage hangar was Sonic and Melanie. Turning, Melanie was about to go follow her brother, when suddenly she felt a hand on her arm, and looked down in surprise to see Sonic standing there and giving her an almost unreadable look.

When he saw he had her attention, Sonic let go of her arm and asked calmly, "Can we talk?" Wondering what he wanted to talk about, Melanie silently nodded, and the two headed outside. They ended up sitting on the same tree branch that they had sat on all those nights ago, when Melanie's parents had come for a visit. As they sat and watched the night sky, a companionable silence settled between the two of them.

Finally, Melanie turned to the male Hedgehog and asked, "So, what did you want to talk about?" Not looking at her, Sonic simply continued to watch the night. Suddenly he asked, "Why didn't you tell me?" Blinking, Melanie asked, "Tell you what?" Now turning to look at her, Melanie felt herself finally gasp at the intense worry shining in Sonic's emerald green eyes. "About Egghead asking you to marry him Mel! Honestly if I had known sooner, I would have beat his butt a lot harder in these past few fights with him." Melanie blinked in shock at the depth of emotion she could hear in the Hedgehog's voice. Worry, and anger being apparent, but, there was also something else, something she just could not put her finger on. Shaking her head and chuckling, Melanie reached over and ruffled the fur on top of Sonic's head.

"Silly Hedgehog," She smiled as Sonic retracted himself from her reach with a small "Hey!" and tried to fix his fur on his head. When he had stopped fidgeting, Melanie continued with a smile as she turned her gaze to the night, "I appreciate your concern Sonic, but I am old enough to fight my own battles. This is strictly between Eggman and me. I won't back down and let him win, I don't want to give him the satisfaction in thinking that I am a stupid damsel in distress because I am not. I am a fierce Martial Arts Master that is not to be trifled with."

As she gazed out into the night, Melanie failed to notice Sonic's look of pure awe and admiration at the courage that she possessed. If anything, he suddenly felt his face flush a little bit, and was thankful for the darkness of the night to hide it, as he realized, that his crush on the female human, had just grown some more.

Thankfully, he was pulled from his thoughts when Melanie continued speaking, "Besides," And here she turned and gave him a closed eyed smile, "I'm now supposed to be some sort of sacred Guardian of Chaos and Harmony. So Eggman definitely won't know what hit him!" Sonic smirked at that as well and replied, "Yeah, Egghead will learn to regret messing with our teamwork." With that the two fist bumped, laughed, and once again fell into companionable silence as the night continued on.

The next morning found everyone, except Sonic, curled up in different sleeping positions in the living room as they waited for Tails and Grandpa Chuck to finish the adjustments to the Tornado. Suddenly, they were all awakened by an unpleasantly familiar voice calling out, "Good morning! Its time for the one and only Dr. Eggman show!" Looking at the TV they all saw the evil genius's face filling the screen as he attempted to do his own television show.

Groaning, Melanie grabbed a pillow, covered her head on the couch and mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear, "I'm normally a morning person, but this is to much…" Everyone chuckled and anime sweat-dropped at that and decided, since they were all up, then they might as well have breakfast. So ignoring the TV, that now had Dr. Eggman doing some weird type of dance, they all headed to the kitchen. Soon, Ella whipped up some eggs and toast for everyone and a nice cup of hot tea to wake up Melanie. As she nursed her mug of tea, Tails suddenly came bounding into the room and called out, "It's finished everyone! Come and see!"

Immediately, Chris, Amy, Cream and Cheese all bolted from their seats and followed an excited Tails. Melanie took her time and grabbed another piece of sourdough toast to go with her mug of tea, before following. When she made it outside, she was just in time to stand at the end of the makeshift line everyone had created in front of the garage, as her Grandpa pressed a button on some sort of remote. Suddenly the whole garage house started to move upwards! Everyone watched in awe as another hanger door appeared and inside it, stood the proud work of both Tails and Chuck. Once the building stopped moving, Tails proudly proclaimed, "Presenting Tornado-X!" Then turning to an awestruck Melanie, Tails continued, "The last thing to do is to install the Chaos emerald, but in order to do that, we need your help Melanie. You did say that you would help us with the excess energy."

He then held out the emerald towards Melanie. Once again, she felt as if she could hear a faint whisper from the emerald. Hesitantly, she reached out and Tails carefully placed the jewel in her hand. There was a sudden flash of light and everyone had to look away for a moment, when they turned back, they all gasped in shock. Melanie's hair looked as if it was being blown by some sort of invisible wind, and her body was outlined in the same colored glow as the emerald. To Melanie, all she could sense and feel, was the warm pulsating emerald in the palm of her hands. The whispering she had heard before, became crystal clear,

" _Mistress, our mistress has been found. What does mistress want of us?_ " Melanie was fascinated, it was as if the emerald had a mind of its own! The quiet voice chuckled and replied, " _You could say that mistress. We each have our own sentient power, but once together, we become strong, very strong._ " Melanie wanted to ask and learn more, but knew that now was not the best time to do so. So instead, she mentally asked, ' _My friends would like to use your power to power their new plane to defeat our enemy. They know that your power is great, so I ask, can you give some of your power to them and reserve the rest?_ ' The small voice was quiet for a moment, before saying, " _I can grant them my power, if you, Mistress, are willing to house my remaining energy._ " Melanie frowned, ' _I can do that?_ ' she asked as the emerald seemed to chuckle at her. " _You are the Guardian, are you not? Dig deep within yourself and find the power to do so._ "

Outside of this mental discussion, everyone else watched in awe as a tendril of chaos energy seemed to flow from the emerald and into Melanie herself! Suddenly the tendril disappeared and so did the glowing. Melanie suddenly started to sway, and quickly, both Chris and Sonic caught her before she fell to the hard concrete. Looking to her in concern, they both noticed that she was completely out cold. So lowering her gently, the rest of the way to the ground, Sonic carefully extracted the green chaos emerald from her hands and handed it to Tail's to install while Grandpa Chuck carefully carried his granddaughter inside to rest.

A few minutes later, Melanie groggily woke up to find herself laying on the living room couch, feeling a headache pulsing behind her eyes, Melanie couldn't stop herself from groaning out loud, causing everyone else, who had been intensely watching the television, to turn around to look at her, varying looks of relief on their faces. "How are you feeling Melanie?" Little Cream asked as she came over to sit next to Melanie. Rubbing her head tenderly, she replied, "Well, I feel like I just got thrown around pretty violently in a fierce sparring match with Tommy. But, from the looks of things, that's not what happened." Thankfully at that moment, Ella came over and handed her a glass of water with some tylenol, which she immediately took.

Looking to her Grandfather, she saw that he had a headset device on and was watching the television screen intently. Looking to the screen, Melanie gasped, to see the new X-Tornado battling against a ginormous green robot! But what really made Melanie gasp was… "Grandpa, why is Chris in the ship with Tails?!" Giving his eldest grandchild a brief glance before looking back to the screen, Chuck simply replied, "Because he wanted to go Melanie."

Pinching the bridge of her nose to keep the headache from coming back due to thinking of the stupidity of her family, Melanie took a deep breath and said instead, "So I'm guessing, whatever I did worked for the chaos emerald?" Everyone nodded, and then returned their focus to watching the aerial battle unfold. Currently, they watched as Sonic just destroyed some type of firing laser on the surface of the green robot.

As he landed back on the X-Tornado, Amy gushed with her hands clasped, "Isn't Sonic the bravest!" Melanie shrugged and replied, "That's debatable, I'd say he's more reckless than brave." Eyes narrowing, Amy glared at Melanie and growled angrily, "Grr, who asked you!" Soon the two females, who mind you both have a crush on Sonic, were butting heads and growling at each other in animosity. So much so, that Chuck and Mr. Tanaka had to stand between the two as Mr. Tanaka said, "Ladies please calm yourselves."

Suddenly, something on the screen caught Melanie's attention and turning to look closer, she said out loud, "Hey guys, tell me if I'm wrong, but does it look like Sonic is shivering?" Everyone now turned to look at the screen closely, and Chuck frowned as he replied, "Yes Melanie, that's because the battle has now approached the stratosphere, where it is fifty below. I'm not sure how well the X-Tornado or Sonic will do in those temperature conditions."

They soon all watched, with concern mounting, as ice soon started to form around certain parts of the X-Tornado, and both Melanie and Amy watched with worry mounting as Sonic started to become covered in ice! "Tails you need to get the X-Tornado out of the stratosphere now!" Chuck said into his headset. There was a pause, and then they all heard Tails reply, "No good Chuck, we can't let Eggman escape!" Suddenly they heard Chris exclaim, "Tails what about the ring?" But Tails immediately responded, "No good! The cockpit is jammed, now I'm starting to wish that we hadn't had Mel take that excess energy away."

Eyes widening in understanding, Melanie turned to Cream and Amy and asked, "Do we have any spare rings down here?" Blinking in confusion, Amy replied, "I think so, but why do you…" Cutting off her question, Melanie said urgently, "There's no time for questions! I need one of you to get me one of those rings quickly!" Cheeks puffing out in anger at being interrupted, Amy simply turned her nose to the air, and crossed her arms with a "Humph!" While Cream, Cheese, and Grandpa Chuck all ran to his garage. A moment later, they came running back with Cheese floating in with one of the energy rings that Sonic uses in battle.

Giving the little Chao a smile of gratitude, Melanie took the ring, closed her eyes, and concentrated. A second later, her body began to glow with a slight golden light, and she began chanting in a strange language, " **Cluinn mi, o lùth Chaos, leig às an lùth a tha air a stòradh annam gus fear a bhlàthachadh leis na tiodhlacan a dh 'fhalbh.** " The glowing intensified for a moment, before suddenly centering itself on the ring in her hand. Just as suddenly as the glowing appeared, it disappeared in another flash of light, and everyone turned to watch the screen in awe as they watched the glowing start to appear out of the ring cockpit of the X-Tornado! "Chuck, what's going on?" Tail's voice could be heard over the headset as he and Chris watched the small glowing orbs circle around Sonic's frozen form.

All of a sudden Sonic broke the ice and exclaimed, "Watch out Eggman, cause I'm all warmed up!" And indeed he was! For his body seemed to be shimmering with some sort of power. Giving a tired smile, Melanie quietly said, "Go get him Sonic." Before laying once again on the couch and promptly falling into an unconscious sleep. Missing how, with the power boost, Sonic easily made mincemeat out of Eggman's latest robot.

Later that evening, once the X-Tornado returned home, and Melanie awoke from the exhaustion of using so much power twice in one day, everyone gathered in the living room and shared a laugh at Sonic's expense. Poor guy kept stating he was still freezing cold from the ordeal, and had his feet soaking in a bowl of nice hot water.

Ella soon came into the room carrying a tray and stated, "Sonic I made you my famous spicy homemade chili that will surely warm your tummy right up for you." Sonic gave her a smile of gratitude, then turned his attention to Chuck as he said, "You sure taught Eggman a lesson Sonic." Wagging his finger in a negative gesture, Sonic replied, "It wasn't me Chuck, I just helped out this time. The real heroes are Chris, Tails and Melanie."

Chris and Tails grinned and shared a high five, while Melanie smiled as well, but then she sidled over to her brother and said sweetly, "Oh and Chris?" Looking to his big sister, Chris asked, "Yeah?" Then he grabbed the back of his head in pain as Melanie whacked him upside the head! "Ouch! What was that for sis?"

Hands on her hips, the elder Thorndyke sibling gave her little brother a leveled look and stated, "That was for being reckless and not asking for permission from either me or Grandpa before jumping headfirst into something that could have potentially killed you if something went wrong! And you!" Here, Melanie's gaze swung to her Grandfather, who rubbed the back of his head in a sheepish manner, knowing he was in trouble. "Don't think for one moment that you are off the hook Grandpa, one phone call, one call with an abbreviated story, is all it will take to have Mother roasting your backside. And don't think that I won't do it if you pull another irresponsible thing like that again!" Suitably chastised, both Thorndyke boys bowed their heads and replied, "Yes mam'e"

Suddenly the door opened and everyone turned to see Amy smiling brightly, "Why all the long faces? I say we celebrate! I made this ice cream myself for the coolest guy around!" Rolling her eyes, Melanie snapped at the female Hedgehog, "He's not going to want ice cream after being frozen over! He's going to need something like Ella's hot chili or some hot chocolate." Setting the tray of ice cream down, Amy put her hands on her hips and snapped back, "Yeah? Well, who asked you? No one, that's who!" The two females quickly fell into a glaring match, each one standing on opposite sides of the couch that Sonic was resting on. Sonic looked between one female, to the other, then looked at the others, who all looked just as confused as he felt.

Before things could become further derailed, Mr. Tanaka, thankfully walked in at that moment and said, "Pardon my intrusion, but I just received a phone call from your parents, Miss Thorndyke and Master Chris." That broke Melanie from her glare off with Amy as everyone turned to look at Mr. Tanaka in surprise and both Melanie and Chris asked at the same time, "Really? What did they say?" "Your family has been invited to the grand opening of the Emerald Coast Resort, and your Parents would like the two of you to attend to represent your family." Melanie's eyes widened in shock and excitement as she asked, "Really THE Emerald Coast Resort?" At Mr. Tanaka's nod Melanie grinned in excitement and then turned to everyone and said, "I just had a brilliant idea! How about while Chris and I attend the opening party of the Resort, the rest of you head over to our families coast side villa and then afterwards we can all have a beach day together!"

With that everyone excitedly got to planning, none noticing, though, Sonic's frown ever since the word 'coast' had been mentioned.


End file.
